Thursday, May 01, 2008 Arroyo orders CPA to consider exempting Customs from rent
PRESIDENT Arroyo has ordered the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) to study the possibility of exempting the Bureau of Customs from paying rentals for the building it is occupying at the Cebu International Port.
Arroyo gave the order to CPA General Manager Angelo Verdan after he was informed by Port of Cebu District Collector Ricardo Belmonte that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has no budget to pay rentals to CPA.
The BOC Port of Cebu during the time of then District Collector Billy Bibit vacated the old customs building which was built by the Americans during World War II near Plaza Independencia after Arroyo converted it into the Malacañang sa Sugbo in 2004.
The conversion of the customs building into a second Malacañang Palace was made four years after then president Joseph Estrada stepped out of the Office of the President during the Edsa 2 in January 2000.
From 2004 to 2005, the Port of Cebu rented a building adjacent to the Cebu City Central Post Office at P35,000 a month.
Transfer
It was during the time of then District Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang when the Port of Cebu finally transferred to the CPA building, relieving the BOC of the huge monthly rental.
Mangaoang got P1 million appropriations from the BOC central office in Manila for the power installation of the entire customs zone because the CPA, at that time, did not release funds for electricity due to lack of appropriations.
Then CPA general manager Mariano Martinez proposed that the reasonable rental of the BOC in using the building is P600,000 a year to recover expenses in constructing the building.
The customs zone, which is within the 8,000-square-meter lot, is also called a one-stop-shop because it also houses all the offices and satellite offices of CPA, Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp.(Opascor), the exclusive cargo handling service provider at CIP; and the Philippine Export Zone Authority (Peza).
Arrangement
Verdan, who is presently accompanying Arroyo in Mindanao, said in a telephone interview that the CPA and BOC may enter into a memorandum of agreement stating that the Customs may rent the building it occupies at P1 a year.
“Maybe we can make any arrangement regarding the order of the President in the next fifteen days. We will find a way to scrap the rental obligations of the BOC without violating any law,” Verdan said.
However, Verdan said that even if BOC will be exempted from paying rentals, the BOC will still pay its bills for water, power and telephone. (EOB)
