BIZ BUZZ: Gateway reopening
As the travel industry has started to pick up, Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is set to reopen Terminal 1on June 16, thus preparing the gateway for a resurgence in travel in the coming months.
To recall, some of Terminal 1’s aerobridges and other areas sustained heavy damage when Typhoon “Odette” ravaged the Visayas shortly before Christmas last year. GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), the private developer and operator of the Philippines’ second largest international gateway, thereby padlocked Terminal 1 temporarily to allow for repairs and conserve resources and consolidated traffic at Terminal 2.
But with the steady increase in domestic passengers, whether flying for business or holidaymaking, MCIA now has to operate both terminals, GMCAC president Louie Ferrer told Biz Buzz.
Based on Ferrer’s estimates, domestic passengers traveling through MCIA are now hitting a high of 17,000 per day, about 68 percent of the prepandemic daily traffic of 25,000 local travelers. On average, domestic passenger load at MCIA is about 57 percent of prepandemic level.
Cebu Air is among the carriers that announced that beginning June 16, its Cebu Pacific and Cebgo domestic flights will be relocated from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 of MCIA.
For international travelers, passenger flow via MCIA is just at 30 percent of pre-COVID levels. While some countries have reopened to tourism, many are still restrictive. The Philippines itself has eased restrictions but is not yet at par with the likes of Singapore, which now only requires proof of full vaccination (two doses), unlike the Philippines, which still requires RT-PCR or antigen testing for travelers without a booster shot.
— Doris Dumlao-Abadilla
Cement wars
Even at the height of a global pandemic, smuggling remains a big problem for Philippine industries, it seems.
Take the case of the local cement industry, which has been suffering from what insiders say is the unabated dumping of cement from Vietnam.
Unfortunately for the industry, not even the imposition of safeguard measures since 2019 by the Department of Trade and Industry has stopped the influx of imported cement.
Industry officials note that, from almost zero imports from Vietnam only nine years ago, the influx has increased dramatically. In 2017, local cement manufacturers monitored a 61-percent increase in imports and, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, the Philippines saw a 91-percent surge in imports from just across the South China Sea.
The local industry has, of course, raised the issue with the Tariff Commission, which is currently hearing a petition of local firms for the imposition of antidumping duties versus certain imported cement types from Vietnam.
According to the local industry, from only 2.48 million metric tons in 2016, cement imports from Vietnam rose to 6.46 million metric tons last year—significantly outpacing the growth of the Philippine market, which reported practically flat demand over the last four years.
Of course, the local players have been shouting themselves hoarse that the dumping of cheaper Vietnamese cement is causing serious injury to the Philippines’ cement manufacturing industry, resulting in loss of sales and even threatening its very viability as a business.
That is worrisome because the local cement industry is an important contributor to economic growth and the employment scene.
Locally produced cement from an integrated facility requires investments of as much as P10 billion. More importantly, every one million tons of cement consumption creates up to 6,500 jobs either directly or indirectly.
At that production level, the local cement manufacturers also generate almost P1 billion in tax revenues for the government to collect, both from companies and their employees. That level of production also generates another P6 billion worth of value for the local economy, the industry association estimates.
Compare this with imported cement which, at the same consumption level, has an estimated positive impact on the economy of P350 million, P100 million in tax revenues, and about 700 jobs created.
The contest isn’t even close. The question, of course, is … whose side is the government on?
