Poe ‘90% convinced’ PPA’s new container policy shouldn’t push through

Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday said she is "90 percent convinced" that the Philippine Ports Authority’s (PPA) implementation of an order seeking an additional container monitoring system should not continue.

The chairperson of the Senate committee on public services made the remark in an interview after the Senate panel conducted a hearing on PPA’s Administrative Order No. 04-2021, which aims to prescribe the policy for the registration and monitoring of containers entering and leaving PPA ports, including the scheduling, loading, unloading, release and movement of all containers.

“Sa ngayon, I am 90 percent convinced na dapat hindi matuloy itong bagong policy ng PPA,” Poe said when asked if the Senate committee is considering the revocation of the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry and Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) as one of its recommendations.

“Tyaka [Department of Transportation] na nagsasabi na parang indefinitely [suspension of the policy implementation]. It’s just a diplomatic way of saying na hindi muna ‘yan dapat ma-implementa,” said Poe.

During the hearing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, who chairs the PPA board, said they will indefinitely suspend the implementation of the TOP-CRMS as they conduct another review of the administrative order.

The suspension came after PPA board members concluded that the order’s benefits are not “very clear” and various government agencies, stakeholders, and ambassadors from the European Union expressed opposition to the policy.

Apart from the vagueness of the policy, Poe said the TOP-CRMS is just “another layer of bureaucracy” whose benefits are “questionable.”

“Sa tingin ko may deficiency talaga itong policy na ito kasi ‘yung dalawang problema, efficiency and cost of shipping, ay hindi naman yata naa-address,” she said.

“In fact, madaragdagan pa ng isa pang level ng bureaucracy; dun sa Anti-Red Tape Act, ‘yung [Anti-Red Tape Authority], parang hindi malinaw na makakabawas ito sa proseso, makakadagdag pa pero ang benepisyo ay hindi naman talaga malinaw,” she added. — BM, GMA Integrated News