Truck ban not our doing, says Customs

Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla: Not our responsibility. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Don’t count on us to solve the problem.

Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla told traders, truckers, shippers and other stakeholders that the Bureau of Customs could not do anything about the Manila city government’s expanded truck ban over which it “does not have control.”

Sevilla told a recent meeting of representatives of various Makati City business groups “it’s not Customs that initiated the truck ban and we’re also not behind those problems.”

The bureau had noted that private businesses, as well as the government’s revenue collections, had been hurt by the truck ban, which was imposed by Manila City Hall on Feb. 24.

Customs collections at the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICP), two of the country’s biggest, are reportedly down by more than P100 million a day due to the ban.

In April, the POM and MICP registered collection deficits of P2 billion and P1.4 billion, respectively, bringing their shortfalls in the first four months of the year to P6.78 billion and P6.08 billion, respectively.

The bureau had said that on the first day of the ban, the number of container vans coming out of the MICP dropped from an average of 2,150 a day to only four. Over at the POM, van releases fell from 1,200 a day to zero.

Initially, trucks weighing at least 4,500 kilograms were not allowed on Manila’s streets between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m.

A temporary concession was made by the city government allowing trucks to ply the streets between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. for the next six months.

There is no truck ban on Saturdays and Sundays. Exempted from the ban are trucks carrying petroleum and perishable products, as well as those carrying materials for government projects.

The truck ban has forced trucking firms to hike hauling charges by an average of 50 percent, a move that would lead to increases in the prices of consumer goods.

Shipping lines have also been incurring losses as ships are delayed for days awaiting a berth at the POM where the movement of cargo has been slowed due to the lack of trucks, the Association of International Shipping Lines Inc. (AISL) said.

In a statement, the group warned that not only the shipping industry but the national government stood to lose revenue from the truck ban.

“If the situation does not improve, principals may limit the acceptance of containers bound for Manila. If the containers do not come, then we do not earn any commissions on the freight rate. No commissions means no revenue. No revenue means less taxes for the government. It’s as simple as that,” the AISL said.