Roxas decision on cement tariff backed

Workers belonging to the unions of local cement manufacturing plants yesterday supported Trade and Industry Secretary Mar Roxas’ decision to continue the imposition of provisional tariffs on imported cement, citing that Roxas’ decision will not only save their jobs but also insure stability of local cement prices.

"Secretary Roxas is correct in upholding the tariffs because safeguards not only benefits industry and its workers but all sectors of society."

"Since the imposition of the P20.60 provisional tariffs, retail prices of cement reduced from P147 per bag to P125 per bag on the average, despite the fact that import levels have gone down," said Samuel Eslava, secretary general of the Philippine Cement Workers Council (PCWC). "This means that imports have not really helped stabilize prices, contrary to claims of the importers and contractor-importers," he added.

According to him, greed for super profits may have overwehlemed the importers who tried to prey on the local industry by dumping imports into the country.

For, despite sourcing their supplies abroad at very low prices, Eslava said importers sold their stocks locally at prices even more than the prices of locally manufactured cement. "It was obvious that many importers, many of whom are fly-by-night operators, only wanted to cash in on the situation where many local plants were beleaguered by the sudden surge of imports," he explained.

The Court of Appeals recently issued a writ of preliminary injunction ordering a status quo that prevented the DTI from imposing an earlier recommendation of the Tariff Commission denying petitions of safeguards against import surges by the local cement manufacturers. This meant the continued imposition of the temporary P20.60 per bag tariff on imported cement imposed last year by the DTI.

The injunction was sought by the Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corp. (Philcemcor) on behalf of the local cement manufacturers.

With the court injunction, Roxas said the government will continue the collection of the provisional tariff despite the fact that the original DTI order was to lapse last June 28. "Everything is on hold so the provisional tariff applies," Roxas told reporters after receiving a copy of the resolution.

According to the workers, the fact that retail prices of cement have stabilized despite the reduction of imports because of the provisional tariffs is proof enough that safeguards can work not only for local industries and their workers but also for the consumers. This should encourage government to work for a more definitive safeguard measure that will prevent imports from wrecking havoc in the local market, to the detriment of local industries and local employment, the workers added.