The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has submitted the list of consignees with overstaying rice imports in two major ports in the country in a bid to compel them to pull out the container vans and eventually further stabilize the price of rice in the market.
Lowering the price of rice per kilo is one of the major campaign promises of President Marcos and PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said the modus of some of the importers is not helping.
In a letter forwarded to Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Santiago detailed the rice importation inventory as of Sept. 30 for both the Manila South Harbor (MSH) and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT),
“We believe that having this information on a regular basis will help both PPA and DA identify trends, address any challenges promptly, and improve overall service delivery,” said Santiago.
In the same letter, Santiago said that a total of 819 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) are currently in the two ports— 40 TEUs exceeding 30 days at MICT and a rice shipment that remains unclaimed for 287 days despite a clearance from the Bureau of Customs for pull out.
While the PPA has no jurisdiction over the consignees, Santiago said there is a need to come up with a regular inventory of rice and other agricultural products to ensure the efficient management of rice shipments and enhance overall port operations.
Aside from rice shipment, he said the list also includes an inventory of pork, chicken, and onion shipments.
“Effective monitoring of frozen pork, frozen chicken, and onions during the Christmas season is crucial due to increased demand and potential challenges. Timely removal of these cargoes from the port is vital for ensuring food safety and maintaining product quality,” said Santiago.
“This is in support of the administration's efforts to ensure food security in the country as the Christmas season approaches,” he added.
As of Sept. 30, the PPA recorded 135 TEUs of pork shipments, 101 TEUs of chicken, and 24 TEUs of onions at the ports.
The PPA also reported that 21 containers of pork have remained at the port for over 30 days, despite BOC clearance, with five containers exceeding 1,000 days in dwell time.
For chicken shipments, 22 containers cleared by the BOC are still at the port, with 12 of them surpassing 600 days in dwell time.
Meanwhile, four onion containers have not yet received OLRS (On-Line Release System) clearance, which refers to the electronic release instructions for import shipment generated by the BOC’s electronic to mobile system.
Santiago said he already directed the head of operations and engineering of Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI), the terminal operator of MSH, to report the overstaying containers to the BOC for appropriate disposition in accordance with Section 1129 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act concerning abandoned containers.