BOC, ARMM forge agreement to curb smuggling

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) now has muscles it can flex to address via administrative interventions seafaring smugglers using ARMM waters as routes for contraband shipments.

The ARMM cannot administer the powers of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), but the regional government and the bureau found a way to fill the void through a joint memorandum of agreement setting the parameter for professionalized port operations in the autonomous region.

Local officials in two major port areas in ARMM, Mayor Jasper Que of Bongao, capital town of Tawi-Tawi, and Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay of Lamitan City in Basilan, had both said they were elated with the crafting of the agreement.

The agreement aims to put in place customs and tariff mechanisms needed to improve the region’s economy and curb domestic smuggling activities.

Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina and ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Friday signed the agreement in Davao City, in the presence of BOC officials and members of the regional cabinet.

Among those present in the event were Hexan Mabang of the Regional Export Zone Authority (REZA), lawyer Ishak Mastura and Sukarno Baraguir of the Regional Board of Investment.

Furigay said Hataman can efficiently comply with the ARMM’s share of responsibilities stated in the agreement owing to his being presiding chairperson of the inter-agency, multi-sectoral regional peace and order council.

Hataman on Friday said while the main objective of the BOC-ARMM agreement is to push forward the operations of REZA and improve the functions of the Regional Ports Management Authority, the compact also clothed the regional government with enough imprimatur to help Lina address smuggling activities in the autonomous region.      

The seat of REZA is the sprawling compound of ARMM’s international Polloc Port in Parang town in Maguindanao.

Past regional governors mismanaged the port to the point that large shipping companies based in Visayas and Metro Manila pulled out and hundreds of squatters settled illegally on strategic patches of government lands in surroundings of the facility.

Lina had said he is as optimistic the investment climate in Central Mindanao will bounce back now that the bureau and the Hataman administration are to revitalize the operations of the Polloc Port bilaterally.

The REZA will provide tax incentives and importation rights to local and foreign investors planning to put up viable ventures or processing facilities inside the Polloc Port compound.

“Most importantly, the cooperation now between the ARMM regional government and the Bureau of Customs will enhance the efforts of addressing trafficking of goods procured from abroad without customs and tariff clearances,” Hataman said.

The agreement which Lina and Hataman signed in Davao City drew positive reactions from business communities in Central Mindanao.

Bai Sandra Siang, chairperson of the Kutawato Muslim Business Chamber said it can cut overhead spending for shipping made cumbersome by re-charting of routes to the port cities of Davao and Gen. Santos as a result of the deterioration of the Polloc Port in years past.

“This is a good move by Commissioner Lina and Gov. Hataman. It is the business community and the people we employ that will benefit from this and the public as well. If business is good government revenue collections will improve and employment generation will improve too,” Siang said.

Businessman Pete Marquez, an official of different business blocs in Central Mindanao, said they will support all activities meant to hasten the implementation of the BOC-ARMM cooperation compact.