Processing of documents at Cebu Port cut to 12 hours a day
Cebu Port stakeholders led by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry meet with Bureau of Customs (BOC) acting District Collector Rico Rey Francis Holganza (seated, third from left) to assess the 24/7 operations at the Port of Cebu. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
FOR lack of personnel, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) cut the schedule for the processing of documents and X-ray of containers to 12 hours a day, or from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
But releasing of containers will still be conducted 24/7, per the instruction of Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina more than a week ago as part of efforts to ease traffic and port congestion.
A draft memorandum of agreement on the new schedule is being circulated for review by the stakeholders and the Bureau of Customs Cebu collection district.
In a statement, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) said the agreement will be presented to the board of trustees for approval on March 31. It will then be endorsed to BOC Manila.
Acting Port of Cebu District Collector Rico Rey Francis “Koko” S. Holganza, in the same statement, said he was willing to change the schedule, if necessary.
“My only concern is that we should address this problem but also take into consideration the limited manpower that the bureau has now. Even if we’ll come up with the final agreement, and if in a few days will find out that it is not working, then we will have to meet again and assess,” he stated.
Members of the chamber as well as importers and logistics companies met with Holganza on Monday to assess the 24/7 operations of BOC in the past week.
During the meeting, they agreed that the 24/7 schedule is not applicable for the entire port operations because of lack of personnel.
In an interview, Holganza said the bureau currently has six examiners and nine appraisers. Of the nine, however, two can’t render overtime work due to medical reasons.
When the bureau started implementing 24/7 operations on March 14, Holganza said payment for a shipment processed at 8 p.m. was reflected only on the following day.
He said a member of Cebu Bankers’ Club explained that although banks have an auto debit system, transactions with BOC still need manual intervention.
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