Striking brokers nearly paralyze port operations

Operations of the Bureau of Customs at the Port of Manila and at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) was almost paralyzed yesterday after members of the Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc. (CCBI) staged a strike over allegations of excessive tax collection by the agency.

The 300-member strong CCBI staged the strike to denounce the BOC’s benchmark evaluation scheme which they had branded as an excessive form of paying taxes for every 20-footer or 40-footer container van shipment.

Ronnie Silvestre, district collector of the Port of Manila, confirmed that only 17 entries were filed at the port which usually receive more than 300 entries daily.

The MICP, which receives an average of 400 entries of shipment per day, only registered 147 entries, according to CCBI.

CCBI said the Port of Manila’s daily average revenue collection target is P215.8 million, but because of the strike, collection was just at P500,000. The MICP meanwhile, according to the CCBI, only registered a collection of P12.9 million against the average daily collection of P220.8 million.

Normal operations at the Port of Manila and the MICP resumed in the afternoon after Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina held a dialogue with customs brokers and assured them of fair evaluation of shipments based on the declared entries.

"The dialogue went well. We were able to deliver the message that we need to work together," Silvestre said.

According to him, customs brokers were well aware of the mechanics of the benchmark evaluation scheme.

"From the start, they were made aware about our position. The benchmark is there but you don’t have to pay without examination. We explained to them that the benchmark is just for threshold reference," he said.

Under Memorandum Order 46-94 which was signed by former Customs Commissioner Guillermo Parayno, shipments for every 20-footer and 40-footer container vans are required to pay a minimum of P100,000 and P200,000 respectively in taxes regardless of contents.

According to the CCBI, Customs officials have agreed to implement the benchmark scheme only on shipments with doubtful declarations and to conduct thorough examinations of shipments to make sure that brokers pay the right taxes and duties.

The CCBI said seriously affected by the benchmark scheme were small importers and brokers whose usual shipments are less than P200,000 per shipment. – Mike Frialde