A PRIORITY measure of President Aquino that aims to liberalize the entry of foreign vessels between ports in the country has been filed recently at the House of Representatives.
House Bill (HB) 5109, authored by Nacionalista Party Rep. Mark Villar of Las Piñas City, seeks to assist importers and exporters in enhancing their competitiveness amid intensifying international trade and to lower the cost of shipping export cargo from Philippine ports to international ports and import cargoes from international ports.
President Aquino, in his 2013 State of the Nation Address, pressed the Congress to amend the cabotage law to lower the cost of transport of agricultural goods.
Moreover, under the bill, liberalization means that the right to engage in carriage of cargoes shall not be limited to vessels carrying a Certificate of Philippine Registry, provided that said cargoes fall within the purview of import and export cargoes.
The measure said a foreign container van carrying foreign cargo arriving from a foreign port on a foreign vessel, such foreign vessel, after being cleared at its port of entry, shall be allowed to carry the foreign container van to its domestic port of final destination, and may be carried by another foreign vessel calling at the same port of entry to the domestic port of final destination of such foreign cargo.
It added that a foreign container van carrying foreign cargo intended for export may be carried on a foreign vessel from its domestic port of origin through another Philippine port to its foreign port of final destination, and through a domestic transshipment port and transferred at such domestic transshipment port to another foreign vessel, which shall carry it to its foreign port of final destination.
It said that a foreign vessel engaged in any of the foregoing instances shall also be allowed to carry such other cargo to and from any of the domestic ports where the foreign vessel loads or unloads its foreign cargo, provided, that one of the domestic ports where such foreign vessel is coming to or going from is either Port of Subic or Port of Batangas.
In filing the bill, Villar, also chairman of the House Committee on Trade and Industry, said the bill, filed on October 16, seeks to exempt the carriage of container vans from the provisions of Section 1009 of Presidential Decree 1474, otherwise known as the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, and for other purposes.
“Various studies showed that the high cost of domestic shipping services is attributed to the lack of meaningful competition in the industry. In fact, recent data from the Maritime Industry Authority provide evidence of concentration of domestic operation in the hands of few players, and this lack of competition is exacerbated by a restrictive cabotage policy as foreign vessels are not allowed to engage in inter-island shipping,” he said.
According to Villar, the liberalization of the carriage of cargoes by foreign vessels within Philippine waters will ultimately benefit the Filipino people.
Earlier, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro filed the coastwise trade bill or HB 1789, which also intends to promote competition in the shipping industry by allowing foreign vessels to transport passengers and cargoes between ports within the country’s waters.
Rodriguez added that the move to liberalize the country’s cabotage law is a key to lower the transport cost of agricultural and industrial products, spurring tourism, and increasing port revenues through the entry of foreign vessel operators.