Appellate court’s TRO vs Tariff Commission ruling called a victory for local industries

The temporary restraining order (TRO) recently issued by the Court of Appeals in the petition by the Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corp. (Philcemcor) assailing the decision of Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II which confirmed the recommendation of the Tariff Commission denying safeguard relief to the local cement industry is a signal victory for all domestic industries which are seriously injured by the influx of competitive and cheap-landed cost imported commodities.

This was the assessment of lawyer Edcel Lagman who filed the petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus on behalf of Philcemcor to restrain the Secretary of Trade and Industry, the Secretary of Finance and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs from implementing the negative report of the Tariff Commission and the adverse decision of Roxas which also ordered the refund of the P86-million provisional safeguard tariff imposed on imported cement.

Lagman also said that among the issues raised in the petition were "whether under the Safeguard Measures Act, the DTI Secretary is forced to implement a report by the Tariff Commission which he has independently found to be baseless and flawed" and "whether the Tariff Commission has unbridled discretion in evaluating safeguard applications by using standards not provided for in the law and in the implementing rules and regulations."

The Philcemcor counsel also said that the case was filed with the Court of Appeals and not with the Court of Tax Appeals because the Safeguard Measures Act failed to expressly grant appellate jurisdiction to the Court of Tax Appeals when an application for safeguard measure is denied.

Lagman also pointed out that "imports continued to enter the Philippine market despite the P20.60 provisional measure. The estimated P86-million safeguard tariff collected by the Government also proves that the imposition of the measure did not prevent imports from continuing to come into the Philippines. It just forced importers to share their exorbitant profit margins with Government."

Philcemcor had pointed out that based on Tariff Commission findings, while imports come in for as low as P58 per bag, they are sold retail at prices higher than local cement. Based on DTI data, imported cement was selling last November at P145 per bag or P5 higher than local cement. "Importers were just milking consumers while they undermined a strategic domestic industry and threatened the employment of thousands of workers," Lagman said.

Lagman also said that he hopes that the Government will recognize the need to defend domestic industries and Filipino workers especially after the Taiwanese government imposed a 45-percent tariff on all Philippine cement despite a measly four-percent market share in Taiwan. He pointed out that the 45-percent tariff was obtained by Taiwan Cement Corp. whose 100-percent subsidiary, TCC Cement Corp. led the cement importers in containing the controversial Alejo injunction against RA 8800.

"So while Taiwan Cement Corp. was preventing the Philippines from defending its own industries so it could flood our market with Taiwanese cement, it was deviously closing the Taiwanese market to Philippine cement." TCC Cement was also caught the Bureau of Customs last year smuggling imported cement.