AS the country’s premier gateways, major ports in the Philippines are vital conduits for the movement of trade and commerce both local and international.
Due to the Philippines’s archipelagic nature, more than 80 percent of the country’s commercial goods are transported via the seas, thus emphasizing the importance of ports in the overall trade picture.
When the Philippines became party to the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta) several years ago, it clearly understood the implications, impact and potentials that it will bring to the country’s economy.
Eventually, the Afta was transformed into the more precise Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga) and Asean Framework Agreement on Services (Afas), which became the heart of the Asean economic community since.
Having outlined a common objective, stakeholders, particularly the Asean member-countries that include the Philippines, needed to adopt a change in their mind-sets or a shift in paradigm in order to take on the needed reforms and meet the requirements on or before the economic-integration deadline set at the end of the year.
While there were initial skepticisms and apprehensions on the capability of the country to adopt the needed reforms and be ready to take on the Asean economic integration, Prof. Federico M. Macaranas, during his presentation to the Center for Futuristics Society at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center way back in October 2013, believed that the country already has the impetus to make the grade.
Accordingly, some of the strengths of the Philippines going into the Asean Economic Cooperation (AEC) 2015 include governance improvements that resulted in stronger economic fundamentals and investment upgrades; a very strong network of overseas Filipinos which continuously brings information on markets; financing options; transferable technologies, and, most especially, the influx of foreign-exchange remittance.
However, those factors alone, though vital, are still not enough for the Philippines to become contented that it shall be able to meet the seemingly complex, but otherwise basic, requirements of the Asean economic integration.
There are still plenty of things that are needed to be done, including implementing economic agreements committed and signed by the government; dealing with business leaders who seek for protection and preferential treatment, instead of proactively providing solutions to long-term problems; and the Filipino public who must continue to be vigilant with its battle against corruption and inefficiency in the government.
Just the battle against corruption and efficiency alone would be enough to send apprehensions to sky-high levels, given the history of the Philippines and its nearly unending battle with the issue time and again.
The good thing is that the government realizes these perceptions and, thus, knows that the only way to be able to ensure that it is aboveboard in its dealings is to be more transparent, compared to the previous administration; and capitalize on modern technology to move toward computerization of systems and processes.
ENSURING BETTER LEVELS
The lesser government people dealing directly with the public on key transactions, the lesser the opportunities to go the way of corruption. Apart from ensuring better levels of productivity, computerized systems also take out bureaucracy, which has become the bread and butter in the past and the breeding ground of so-called midnight deals or under-the-table arrangements.
Naturally, those who got affected by the modernization and computerization initiatives were the first to complain, disguising it as a crusade for and on behalf of the human work force.
But the Philippine government already knows how to handle the situation, having learned from the countless lessons of the past. It knows and understands that drastic times need drastic measures, although the situation hardly appears to be anything close to drastic actually.
While the conservative and apprehensive businessmen and economists continue to worry about changing comparative advantages, bad environments of doing business, more complex and chaotic global conditions when the Asean economic integration finally materializes, it is obvious that there are also plenty of opportunities in store for the country and the business community. The potentials to tap into the global market without hardly breaking a sweat also lies there. The government understands that, too, that is why it has continuously strived to balance the perception of the key economic players.
In order to further address the challenges relative to the regional economic initiative, the government has started implementing reforms in investment and trade promotion. More than just knowing and understanding the weaknesses or the flaws in the system, it is important that changes and reforms must be adopted, no matter how difficult or analogous to the proverbial bitter pill it may be.
It is obvious that the Philippine government did well with its history lessons following the automation of business procedures in national government agencies, streamlining of procedures across various offices, and making them more transparent and consistent, too. These initiatives, though taking a long time coming, were vital steps to build confidence to the government by both the public and the business sector.
UNIFY VARIOUS INVESTMENTS
Sustaining further its economic thrusts, the government is now seriously working to unify various investment bodies, as well as striving to adopt Philippine Economic Zone Authority operation practices, harmonize incentives and seriously looking into the possibility of changing the 60-40 rule on foreign equity in the country. The Asean economic integration is expected to bring in a significant number of new investors and investments in the country, but the 60-40 equity rule would certainly shun off many, if not all, of them.
The government understands the economic fundamentals to make the Asean economic initiative work to its favor, so it also knows the needed steps to be done to make it happen. While it recognizes the foreboding of some economic players, it has learned to discern which apprehensions are legitimate and needed attention, and which are merely being propelled by vested interests.
Bureau of Customs
As the Bureau of Customs shall play an important role when the Asean economic integration takes effect, the government also spared no time in changing not only the image of the agency, but also its major systems and procedures in order to make it more efficient. It has been known since practically time immemorial that the bureau is the breeding ground of corruption. The government literally waged war against the department just to make sure that it cleanses its image. While there are still remnants of the bureau’s sordid past, the government remains unperturbed and is all eyes and ears.
Its initiative to make the bureau and its personnel toe the line is getting a big boost with the government’s initial efforts to institute a national single window and linking its databases with that of the Customs department in order to improve risk management. The government is now working on instituting automation in areas of Customs operation which are applicable for modernization, thus preventing personnel in dealing with the public in most cases.
EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE of PPA
In terms of the country’s ports, the government has done a wonderful job, due primarily to the effective governance of the PPA. During the past administration, the goal of the agency was to turn at least 10 major gateways into world-class international ports within a projected time-frame. It appears that the PPA is well on its way of meeting its target and projection toward such end.
The current port administration complemented the lofty target by introducing automation and streamlining processes in the country’s major ports and outports. The initiatives did not only ensure that these facilities will be serving as gateways for people, trade and commerce, they will actually be serving more people and goods at less the time.
There were previous studies detailing some neglected physical port facilities in some key areas of the country, but the PPA has done wonders in turning things around by resorting to the public-private partnership (PPP) project. One perfect example of such partnership clearly in play is in the Manila North Harbor (MNH), the countrys’ biggest domestic port.
From being nearly a run-of-the-mill domestic port, whose importance has been clearly overlooked in the past, the MNH is now fast becoming a model of how PPP can effectively work in the ports.
Having a success story to speak and be proud of, the PPA, under the directive of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), is now seriously looking into adopting the same scheme toward the development of other outlying ports.
While the PPA may have sufficient resources to turn a good number of ports in the country into world-class gateways, subscribing to the PPP, instead of working all by itself, would build further resources to develop more ports and venture into new port-infrastructure projects in other areas of the country.
There is also a great possibility that, given the status of the Philippines as a maritime country brimming with potentials, the advent of the Asean economic integration may actually bring forth foreign investments in ports, port infrastructure and port operations. Thus, it is imperative that the Philippines needs to review its cabotage policy and lay down the right framework to pave the way for the entry of foreign investments in the country’s port system.
PPA is ready
So the question now beckons, are ports in the Philippines ready for the Asean economic integration? If the question is asked to the PPA and the DOTC, for sure, the answer is yes. If a similar query is thrown to the stakeholders of the ports, it is likely that the answer would be “yes,” with some minor apprehensions.
As for the public, whose general perception of ports is generally based on the facilities it sees in the gateways, as well as the automated systems and streamlined procedures it gets to encounter, it is likely that more than 60 percent would go for the affirmative, with the remaining figures shared among the negative, the undecided and those who could not care less.
For sure, there will be challenges and issues that will also come with the Asean economic integration but with the right systems and infrastructure in place, along with transparent governance, the Philippines will be more than ready to welcome the opportunities that the regional initiative will bring forth to the country and the Filipino people, in general.
source: Business Mirror
No comments:
Post a Comment