Press Release
April 23, 2015

Bam on the Port Congestion and Fees
(Transcript of Interview)

Sen. Bam: Coming from our latest Port Congestion Hearing, lumalabas na iyon na lang talaga iyong natitira, no.

Our port congestion has gone down from 97% to 60%, operational na po. Iyong paghihintay ng mga truck ay just-in-time na lang, ilang oras na lang po.

Mga ships natin na noon naghihintay rin ng ilang araw ngayon po ay mabilis na rin - less than 10 hours na, sometimes nga mabilisan pa ang kanilang kuha.

So we're back to normal except for one item, which is our logistics costs, both from the truckers' side and the foreign shippers. And iyon ang naging subject ng second half ng hearing natin.

And we're hoping na doon sa paguusap ng iba't ibang sektor, maibaba na ang presyo ng mga shipping lines natin at ang mga truckers.

They both gave a commitment. Nag-commit na rin po sila na ibababa na nila ang presyo dun sa presyo ng pre-congestion which was before February 2014.

Q: Ano ang reason bakit hindi pa nila binababa?

Sen. Bam: Well, sa totoo lang, hindi talaga acceptable. But in their case, you can understand that hindi naman agad-agad iyon mangyayari. It has only been a few weeks na naging maayos na talaga ang ating port congestion. But of course, ang hinahanap natin at hinahanap ng private sector ay bumalik na ang presyo sa madaliang panahon.

So LTFRB also said that if they don't bring their prices down, they might actually look at canceling franchises.

DTI also mentioned that they might look into also filing charges kung hindi babaan ang presyo. But I'm hoping that the meeting on Thursday, which will be headed by Usec. Dimagiba of DTI and Chairman Ginez ng LTFRB, will be able to bring prices down and bring them back to our pre-congestion rates.

Ang mahalaga kasi, iyong congestion nawala na physically pero iyong presyo nila, mataas pa rin. So iyong pinaka-concern ng taong bayan na pagtaas ng presyo ng bilihin, nanganganib pa rin dahil ganoon pa rin ang costs nila.

So I'm hoping that by the end of the month, and this was a commitment by the industry associations - ng truckers at ng shipping lines na maibababa na ang presyo.

Hopefully by May, we can get back to our pre-congestion rates, iyong presyo, mga cargoes natin magiging mas mabilis, babalik na sa panahong walang congestion sa ating mga ports.

Q: Saan nagtuturuan ang truckers at shippers kung sino ba ang mataas ang presyo?

Sen. Bam: Iyong shippers and truckers nagtuturuan but ang maganda diyan, nagcommit na iyong ating truckers na ibabalik na nila ang presyo doon sa pre-congestion. Doon magsisimula.

Pag nababa na nila iyong presyo, sunud-sunod na iyon na magbababa ang presyo. And it's a good thing that they committed already and in fact, Chairman Ginez also mentioned na kung hindi sila magbababa, baka masilip pa ang kanilang mga prangkisa so there is that opportunity na talaga na ibaba na kaagad ang presyo nila at the soonest possible time.

They're meeting on Thursday so hopefully by the end of the week, naresolba na itong isyu ng hindi paggalaw ng kanilang charges.

Q: Baba is 11,000?

Sen. Bam: Back to pre-congestion rates, which is 11 to 15 thousand. Noong kasagsagan ng congestion, umakyat po until 30 thousand. So practically, nagmultiply ng tatlo. Ang commitment po nila ay maibalik ito to the pre-congestion rates which is anywhere from 11 to 15 thousand.

Ano ang sinasabing truckers, nasa P13,000 na lang sila pero yung mga importers nasa P7,000 pa rin, bakit ganoon?

In fact, that's the issue. In fact, nagsimula ito noong we started hearing reports from our private sector partners na mataas pa rin ang kanilang charge. Of course, maraming dahilan ang naibigay.

Sabi ng mga truckers ay baka kasi sa Customs broker kayo nagbabayad, hindi sa amin directly. And in fact, hinakayat pa nga ng tatlong malaking truckers associations na sa kanila mismo makipag-partner ang ating private sector.

So we're hoping that Thursday meeting, they will publish the rates of their members at maglalantaran na ng mga numero at mga charges nila. Puwede mas magkaayusan na at talagang maibaba.

At ang commitment naman ng LTFRB is kung hindi sila magbababa, sisilipin talaga ang mga prangkisa na mayroon sila. So I'm quite hopeful that they will bring down the charges at sunud-sunod na rin iyong pagbaba ng shipping lines natin.

Q: Sa Thursday, LTFRB, Shippers, DTI, Truckers, Senate hindi na involved doon?

Sen. Bam: We'll be sending staff to attend just to follow up on the meeting but again this will be the truckers, the shippers, the different business clubs, and of course run by DTI and LTFRB.

On the Resignation of Sunny Sevilla

Sen. Bam: Well, ako, it's very sad that someone who is magaling naman and honorable naman ay aalis sa gobyerno. Alam mo ang kailangan ng gobyerno, mga taong maaayos, matitino, mahuhusay, at magagaling.

I hope that whoever will replace him will continue his reforms at mas magiging strikto pa sa ating mga issues sa smuggling.

Sen. Bongbong said he should name who's pressuring him...

Yeah, why not.

Anyway, ito naman ang ginawa niyang dahilan kung bakit siya umalis. Ang mahalaga, I think, if you look at what Sunny Sevilla has done, when you look at his term, even though it was very short, nag-implement siya ng systemic changes sa BOC.

These are new processes, makabagong mga proseso, makabagong mga paraan ng paggamit ng computer na noon, hindi magawa-gawa sa BOC. And yet, siya, nasimulan niya iyan.

Sana ipagpatuloy iyon. Kasi issues natin sa customs, hindi lang iyan tungkol sa indibidwal, tungkol iyan sa mga sistema na ginagamit natin na luma na at outdated na at prone to corruption.

So whoever the next person is, aside from being a good person na malinis, dapat isang tao rin na may kakayahan na baguhin iyong mga sistema sa customs - put in modernization, put in automation.

On our end, we can support him or her through the Customs Modernization Act na pinag-uusapan na namin dito so we can really bring our Bureau of Customs from the dark ages to the modern day.

Q: Sir dapat ba imbestigahan pa ng executive dept. ang resignation?

Sen. Bam: Kung may mga dahilan siya na dapat imbestigahan, bakit hindi? I mean, why not? Definitely.

But I think at this point, yung mahalaga is iyong huwag na tayo mag-backslide.

Ang papalit diyan dapat may kakayahan, dapat malinis, dapat handang makipagsabayan sa political pressure, handang makipagsabayan sa mga challenges na kaharap ng isang Customs Commissioner natin at talagang maitulak pa ang mga reporma na kailangan ng ahensiyang iyan.

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