Call anew for gov’t action: Exporters keeping fingers crossed

CEBU, Philippines - Although Cebuano exporters are still hoping for good prospects of growth before the year ends, the government’s prompt action to support the industry is deemed crucial to sustain such optimism.

“The restrictive pressures brought upon the industry by government enablers such as our problems with PDEA and PNP controlled chemicals impede our ability to ride on with the small market improvement,” said Philexport-Cebu executive director Fred Escalona in an interview yesterday.

While the over-all national performance shows continued slide of export figures, Cebu exporters on the other hand, particularly GDH (gifts, toys, and housewares) , including some furniture export players are reporting improved sales and improving orders from major markets in the last couple of months.

Escalona said if the government were serious enough in helping the export sector, immediate actions could have been done.

 Few weeks back, Philexport released a position paper lamenting the difficult dealings with the government agencies.

Represented by the 11 export sub-sectors in the Central Visayas region, namely: electronics, industrial goods, furniture, seaweed, food, fashion accessories, gifts, toys & housewares, shell-craft, garments and medical tourism, the organization attempted to have its voice be heard, though a position paper,  dissecting the reasonable concerns each sub-sectors in their dealings with government agencies, while navigating the still under-recovered export industry.

 Signed by the presidents of each sub-sector, noted by Export Development Council (EDC) Visayas representative Apolinar G. Suarez, the sector’s battle-cry called against the redundancies, duplications and overlaps in the implementation of several laws involving various departments, bureaus. agencies and instrumentalities of government that has inadvertently hindered the growth of the export business.

The position paper, indicated specific state-run agencies at are frequently involved in processing several export-related requirements, these are; the Philippine Drugs and Enforcement Agency (PDEA, including the Dangerous Drugs Board), Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Bureau of Customs.

 The export sector called the immediate attention of the Philippine government to establish a single government office or government-accredited importer of controlled substances be created to rid the system of so many layers of bureaucracy and red tape.

 Likewise, Gifts, decors and Houwares Exporters Foundation Inc. (Cebu-GDH) past president Ramir Bonghanoy said that trade regulations and policies should be reviewed by the government as some of them are already outdated, and are no longer applicable in today’s business environment.

  Bonghanoy mentioned the common business sentiments of unresolved bureaucracy in all levels of government hierarchy. This is important factor to look at, in order for Philippines to take advantage of the recovering export market.

Otherwise, other counterpart countries, which governments are committed to support in boosting their export trade, will be able to catch the opportunity. (FREEMAN)