The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Transportation stakeholders in the public land and water transport industry unveiled a lengthy laundry list of impediments to ease of doing business, presented during an initial public consultation on modernizing government regulations.
For the road transport sector, key issues and concerns that emerged pertained to redundancies in procedures and conflicts in rules and regulations, particularly those implemented by local government units (LGUs).
Complaints were raised against the redundant process of submitting the same documents repeatedly within the same agency and across agencies, and the hardships of getting the certificate of public convenience.
Another major problem is obtaining the many requirements, including those demanded by LGUs such as the barangay clearance.
Industry players likewise decried differing traffic rules and regulations imposed by LGUs that complicate compliance, aggravated by “the lack of coordination between LGUs and national government agencies, especially on rerouting.”
Adding other requirements “over and above the stated requirement” is a government practice that was also scored by the private sector. An example is the need to submit an affidavit of mailing to show proof that the buyer has been furnished a copy of the hearing transcript, which participants in the consultation insisted is not stated in the requirements for sale and transfer.
Compliance with regulations is further hindered by the non-display of the Citizen’s Charter, and even when the charter is displayed, “costs are not updated,” said the attendees.
Similarly, stakeholders in the water transport industry expressed objections to a number of rules, policies, and procedures enforced in the sector that they claimed undermine business operations.
The conflict of interest arising from the Philippine Ports Authority’s dual role as regulator and port developer came up again.
A PPA official told participants that there are now moves to privatize port development as one of the steps to address the issue.
A shipping line representative discussed the difficult in complying with ship classification due to the numerous local classification societies in the Philippines.
Ship acquisition is also challenged by the “cyclic and numerous procedures” stakeholders have to go through, particularly in their dealings with the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina). Issues brought up centered on the validating of vessels based on the authority to purchase and the series of five inspections that Marina must conduct once the vessel is released from the Bureau of Customs.
Also mentioned is the additional regulatory procedure based on the new memorandum circular on importing new vessels, which requires that before securing the authority to import, the applicant must first obtain clearance from the shipyard regulation service under Marina.
Another concern underlined the challenges of implementing a hub port strategy “due to pressure from local politicians to develop ports that are often times not economically viable.”
Participants also observed that some ports have only one cargo-handling operator that “practically dictates port charges,” and that mandatory pilotage fee for services of harbor pilots is levied “even when there is no actual need for the service.”