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THE
Bureau of Customs will disallow any private company from
installing security equipment at its gates, even if such
devices are expected to benefit shippers and port
authorities.
Reacting
to a report which said that a company intended to put a
tracking device at the bureau's gates, Customs
Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales said that permitting a
private entity to do so could entice others to follow
suit and may disrupt the agency's operations.
"We will
not allow them to install anything at our gates,"
Morales told reporters Tuesday. The Customs chief was
referring to reports, including those published by
BusinessMirror, that CommerceGuard AB, which will sell a
container security device in the Philippines, also
proposed installing similar equipment at the bureau's
facilities.
In a
recent interview, CommerceGuard head B. K. Kim said that
the company would initially install readers, costing
anywhere between $3,000 to $5,000 each, at the ports of
Manila and Cebu, where a large concentration of
exporters can be found.
Although
the readers will be installed for free, CommerceGuard
said it is requesting approval to put it up at the
Customs' gates to capture the entry and exit of the
shippers that will use their products. Data captured
will then be linked to a worldwide network.
A joint
venture between multinational companies, CommerceGuard's
stakeholders include a unit of the US-based General
Electric Co., South Korea's Samsung Corp., Japan's
Mitsubishi Corp., and Switzerland-headquartered Siemens
Building Technologies Group.
Among
the devices it will sell in the country include a gadget
which will monitor the opening of container doors. If
tampered, the device will send an alarm to a handheld or
fixed reader, which will then alert authorities. Since
the device did not offer Global Positioning System
capability, which would have allowed users to track
cargoes in real-time, Philippine shippers and public
officials who attended a recent CommerceGuard
presentation failed to be excited about the product. |
