Exporters crossing fingers on Teves' words

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu exporters hope to reach a win-win solution with the Philippine government in an effort to adjust some state rules, regulations and laws, to rescue the bleeding export industry.

Department of Finance (DOF) secretary Margarito Teves met with the key players in the export sector in Cebu Friday night in a special meeting to hear out the traders’ pleas, and offered help without sacrificing government’s interest in boosting revenue.

The exporters presented four priority requests to the government, which include extending the period of incentive on importation by exporters; tax incentive reduction of VAT (value-added-tax) and import duties and moratorium of bonded warehouses’ requirement to be able to sell to the local market; reduced processing/approval time of Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) processes, and prompt release of Tax Credit Certificates.

Although, there was no concrete commitments made by Teves, as he still has to consult with the different agencies that are involved in the requests, exporters expressed relief, considering that Teves went out of his way to hear them.

“Now, we have an open-line with the government. It’s good to know that we are heard. We are counting on secretary Teves’ words,” said PhilExport-Cebu president Jay. Y. Yuvallos.

The two-hour dialogue held at Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, which was also attended by key BoC-Cebu personnel and officials led by district collector Ricardo Belmonte, provided a clear understanding between exporters and the government.

“Now, we understand each other,” Yuvallos said.

“We are in an extraordinary situation and we ask the government to lend an extraordinary action,” said Herve Lampert president of Dedon Furniture, one of the largest multinational furniture plants in Cebu.

Aside from requests that need legislative intervention, Teves agreed to help the exporters on administrative matters, such as the document’s long processing time, which are affected by the “bureaucracy within the BoC. Exporters’ claimed that documents are going back and forth from Cebu to Manila offices just to get processed and approved. These unresolved issues on bureaucracy in the bureau has largely affected the competitiveness of exporters.

Teves vowed to work on this problem as is under administrative control. Likewise, he committed to endorse exporters’ requests for an Executive Order (EO).

Obviously, there are demands from the exporters that also needed to be compromised, specifically if it affects the government’s revenue generation bid.

“We will try to stretch our hands, but no commitments yet. We will try to arrive at an agreement in what is legally feasible, and morally justifiable,” Teves told Cebuano exporters led by Yuvallos, and PhilExport chairman Alan Suarez, and PhilExport.

The exporters’ prayer is to compromise some rules and regulations to favor the exporters, while they are still desperately suffering from very weak orders, and are at the verge of “collapse.”

Teves emphasized that a “win-win” solution could bevery fitting rather than giving in to “win-lose” situation, leaving one side of the coin at the losing condition.

“We begin to understand each other. It should arrive at ‘win-win’ solution, than win for the export and lose for the government,” Teves said.

According to Teves, the government is willing to modify some rules and regulations, but for those requests that need legislation from the Congress is already out of DOF’s control.— Ehda M. Dagooc (THE FREEMAN)