Biz Buzz: ‘Smuggling’ corn
A new scheme to flood the local market with imported corn—without paying the correct customs tariffs, that is—is seen threatening local farmers.
Apparently, this involves the falsification and tampering of the cargo documents (certificates of origin) at the behest of the local importers.
A letter circulated by Mindanao Grains chief operating officer Rod Bioco from the Bukidnon Kaamulan Chamber of Commerce called the government’s attention to corn shipments from South America that are being passed on as exports from Vietnam. These products are also labeled as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which, ironically, Vietnam was not currently producing, he said.
The influx through the different Customs gateways from Luzon to Mindanao would be a big blow to farmers from Isabela, Ifugao, Mountain Province and Cagayan who may be priced out of the market.
The letter also warned that the government would lose the equivalent of 30 percent in tariff differential as their point of origin is altered to Vietnam (with 5-percent tariff) versus South America (35 percent).
Another concern is that if imports are misdeclared, they would not be factored into the importers’ minimum access volume (MAV) tallies, therefore distorting the import quotas and total tariffs, Bioco said. Above the MAV, corn imports are subjected to 65 percent tariff.
The tariff system operates through a mechanism called “tariff quotas.” MAVs are pre-negotiated for products which can be imported at lower tariff rates, while volumes to be imported outside of the MAVs are levied higher rates.
“The harvest season is now at hand, this must be stopped if we are to provide and empower our Filipino farmers, alleviate and not exacerbate the effects of the drought and maximize their return in this challenging wet season 2014,” Bioco said. Doris C. Dumlao
Runners-up step up
State-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) seems set to hand over the 153.1-megawatt Naga coal and diesel power complex to SPC Power Corp. and award the power barges that the latter abandoned to Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.
SPC Power was the second-highest bidder for the Naga complex in Cebu province after Aboitiz Power Corp. unit Therma Power Visayas Inc.
Trans-Asia is the second-highest bidder for three power barges in Iloilo, after SPC Power, who withdrew from the deal with PSALM in March. SPC Power had dropped out from the contract to rehabilitate and manage three privatized power barges, citing damage from Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
Now, it seems that government lawyers have said it is possible for PSALM to negotiate with Trans-Asia and the matter is slated for discussion in an upcoming board meeting.
It also appears that government lawyers have agreed with the National Economic and Development Authority’s (Neda) opinion that SPC Power should be able to top the highest bid for the Naga complex, and get the same 25-year land lease term as packaged during the auction in March. The issue has reached the Supreme Court, where a petition seeking to prevent SPC from exercising its “right to top” has been submitted.
A question has also been raised as to whether SPC disclosed that its vice president for finance, Jaime M. Balisacan, is a brother of Economic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan.
Secretary Balisacan confirmed his relation to the SPC officer, but clarified that it was Neda’s assistant director general Ruben S. Reinoso Jr. who participated in PSALM’s board meetings. Neda’s opinion on the Naga power complex issue, meanwhile, was signed by Rolando G. Tungpalan as Neda’s OIC and director general at that time.
The amount of P1.14 billion (covering the winning bid, plus a premium) has been wired from SPC Power to PSALM, leaving the legal questions pending.
Meanwhile, consumers are clamoring for more electricity, or at least a more stable supply. And soon. What to do, PSALM? What to do? Riza T. Olchondra
NLEx windfall
Massive worshippers of religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) converged at the newly built Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, Sunday for the group’s 100th founding, causing heavy traffic in the affected areas. But the operator of North Luzon Expressway is not complaining.
Manila North Tollways Corp., which operates NLEx, on Saturday estimated the daily traffic at almost 200,000 from the average weekend traffic of 160,000 to 180,000.
This also included an estimated 10,000 buses to shuttle INC members, estimated to reach the millions, to the 50-hectare complex called Ciudad de Victoria where the Philippine Arena is located.
That boost in the traditionally slow third-quarter would still not be enough as Ramoncito Fernandez, president of MNTC’s parent firm Metro Pacific Tollways, warned they could miss their P8-billion revenue target this year due to a long-delayed toll rate adjustment. Miguel R. Camus
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