SINCE container-scanning fees it collected last year could have been five times higher, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it remained open to imposing its original rates “in due time”.

Instead of imposing a $25 and a $50 fee for scanning every 20-foot and 40-foot container, the bureau only collected $5 and $10, respectively, trimming its May to November 2007 container security-fee collection to only $217 million. The collection could have risen fivefold were it not for the petition of port users and business groups which asked for a discount.

Nevertheless, Customs Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales said that, at the moment, he is “okay about the discount” since the bureau was able to uncover many misdeclarations at the ports.

According to a customs report, from May to November 2007, the agency facilitated the release of 12,622 containers without the need for physical inspection but apprehended and seized some 30 shipments for misdeclaration. Of the figure, nine containers were forfeited in favor of the government.

Besides the fee, the report also indicated that P4.75 million worth of revenues were collected from the Port of Manila, the Port of Cebu and the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

In July the BOC’s x-ray unit also collected an additional P362 million at the formal entry division at the Port of Manila from items such as electronics, motor vehicles, hardware and other miscellaneous products, according to report.

This year the agency intends to collect x-ray fees by at least 10 percent, cut the physical examination of containerized shipments to 10 percent of the total number of containers and increase the seizure of prohibited and regulated goods by at least 100 percent.

The bureau has almost completed the installation of 30 machines all across the country’s ports. Under the plan, the Port of Manila, the Port of Cebu, the MICP and the Food Terminal Inc. should have four units each. Manila Harbour Centre has been allotted three units; Subic Bay, Clark Field, Cagayan de Oro and Davao have been allocated two each; while General Santos, Batangas and Zamboanga should have one unit each.

Worth $5 million each, the scanners were procured through a government-to-government loan from China. Two-thirds of the container security-fee proceeds will be used to pay Chinese low-interest loan, with an interest rate of 2 percent a year payable in 20 years. The rest will be allotted to a fund that will pay for the administrative and maintenance costs.

Agency plans to cut funds remitted to government

AFTER posting lower earnings last year, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) plans to cut funds it remits to the government so that it could have enough to bankroll its various big-ticket projects.

SINCE container-scanning fees it collected last year could have been five times higher, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it remained open to imposing its original rates “in due time”.

PHARMACEUTICAL giant Pfizer Inc. has begun to ship its Viagra product with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to its customers in the US as part of an initiative to promote patient safety by combating pharmaceutical counterfeiting.