order imposing an additional container monitoring system in the current ports operations. Implementation of the order will “result in an almost 50 percent increase in the logistics cost of imported goods,” according to them.PPA Administrative Order No. 04-2021The stakeholders warned that the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry Monitoring System and Empty Container Storage Shared Service Facility may “end up derailing the administration’s economic recovery efforts.
“The PPA fails to consider that the ultimate victims of these additional costs is the ordinary Filipino consumer, who is already bleeding from an inflation rate of 8.1 percent,” the group told the President. In 2014, the stakeholders recalled, “the lack of rigorous analysis of policy options and lack of proper coordination with stakeholders resulted in disastrous port congestion with an economic cost of at least P43.8 billion.”
Among the major business alliances who signed the open letter were Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. President George T. Barcelon, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong and Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. .