Opportunities for thievery

On my way to our newspaper office in Manila last Thursday from the One News TV studio in Mandaluyong, the driver told me that he used to drive a truck hauler regularly to the Port of Manila.

The wait to deposit an empty shipping container took an average of three days, he said, and longer during peak seasons such as Christmas.

What did he do while waiting? He said he couldn’t leave and go home as the truck inched along while in line in the congestion. But he could switch off the engine during long stops to buy food and drinks, relieve himself, take naps and stretch his legs.

The pay was reasonable for the suffering, he said, but it was simply too grueling and he quit.

This was a few years ago. So it’s interesting to note that small-scale trucking operators raised the same problem, on top of the planned phase-out of trucks older than 15 years, for going on a six-day holiday last week.

The operators had warned that they account for the bulk of trucking services in the country’s principal seaport. Their warning and grievances were played down by port authorities.

Whether in the release of shipments through the Bureau of Customs or the return of empty shipping containers through the Philippine Ports Authority, businessmen must endure interminable delays.

Officials have come and gone, and president after president has openly berated Customs and port authorities for corruption and inefficiency. And yet we’re still stuck with the same problems.

Not even the possibility of being subjected to Double Barrel, it seems, can streamline the operations.

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A few years ago I aspired to become an importer of certain food items and equipment. A representative of one of the biggest logistics companies, whose services I had hoped to tap, gave me a list of the requirements. After going through a thick sheaf of rules, I sighed and thought, silly me – how did I even dare imagine that I could do it?

I believed too much in reports of ever increasing trade liberalization. With tariffs approaching zero on many items, the rules would become simpler, right?

Wrong, of course. Every step in shipment processing in our country means an opportunity for crooks to collect a “facilitation fee” (“tara” in the Bureau of Customs). And such grease money, at every step, is nothing to sneeze at; the rates can be enough to make you lose faith in the inherent goodness of humankind.

The corruption, combined with sheer inefficiency and the increasingly limited capacity of the ports, can be toxic to business.

Officials say the truck holiday had minimal impact. But several importers told me that their shipments have been delayed, and prices of certain goods would go up as a result.

In this Christmas season, any delay can cause a pile-up. This happened some years ago, when goods meant for release during the Christmas shopping rush were released only in late January the following year and some in February.

One importer, whose fine baking chocolates meant for Christmas release melted in prolonged improper port storage at the wrong temperature, found herself stuck with a mountain of chocolate in shapeless clumps that no one wanted to buy even at a big discount. She has since stopped importing the pricey chocolate, one of my favorite brands.

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It’s good to know that the International Container Terminals Services Inc. (ICTSI) has turned to water transportation to ease congestion, both in road traffic and in the Manila container port.

ICTSI launched last week the country’s first barge container service, between the Port of Manila and Tanza in Cavite, near the Cavite Export Processing Zone. Shipping containers will be transported by barge or roll-on roll-off vessels between the two terminals. The barge service is expected to result in approximately 140,000 fewer truck trips annually. A similar service should be developed for the Batangas port.

For shorter trips within Metro Manila and neighboring areas, authorities can increase the utilization of the Pasig River for transporting cargo. The river served this function for several centuries, until the railway service started, followed by the arrival of motorized road vehicles.

Railways are ideal for transporting cargo. Since we can’t seem to install a kilometer of railway without thieves in government demanding fat commissions, however, perhaps we can try greater utilization of water transportation for both cargo and passengers.

For this, docks or pick-up stations for shipping containers will have to be developed along the Pasig. The cost shouldn’t be prohibitive; the equivalent of the annual amount for keeping a few useless party-list representatives in office for a year should be enough.

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Anything that can facilitate the delivery of public services and the movement of goods around the country, especially in congested Metro Manila, should enjoy the support of President Duterte, who likes to tout his war on corruption.

He has just fired Falconi Millar from the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. Duterte should also put someone in charge of a follow-through on his order to speed up the delivery of basic services. Monitoring compliance should be easier with the enactment of the Ease of Doing Business Act this year, which enhances the anti-red tape law.

Since Duterte has fired Millar, the compliance monitoring can include the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. A condominium owner, for example, has been trying to obtain his deed of sale and certificate of title from a property developer in Alabang, Muntinlupa. An arbiter of the HLURB ordered the developer to release the documents on Sept. 11, 2017.

After over a year and three urgent motions for the resolution of the case, there is still no final order from the HLURB, an agency directly under the Office of the President. This case is just for one condominium unit, which the owner paid for nearly 15 years ago. This is cutting red tape and ease of doing business?

Any delay is an opportunity to collect grease money. This is a major reason for slow justice in our country. Any step that gives a public official personal discretion or judgment over a service, document or contract is an opportunity for a commission.

Firing crooks is not enough. Structural reforms must plug opportunities for thievery.