Saturday, July 26, 2008 Officials ask GMA to waive taxes for imported gear
WITH the expected arrival of the mobile morgue next month, officials are worried with the selection of Manila as its point of entry from Norway.
Because the point of entry of the facility is in Manila, negotiations with its importation may be difficult.
Philippine Center on Transnational Crime-Visayas Field Office (PCTC-VFO) Chief Supt. Anthony Obenza said they will try to apply Presidential Memo-randum Order (PMO) 36 in order to get the mobile morgue shipped directly to Cebu after it arrives in Manila.
Rehabilitation
PMO 36 orders the authorization of “importation and donation of food, clothing, medicine and equipment for the use in the government relief and rehabilitation programs for calamity-affected areas under section 105 of the tariff and customs code of the Philippines, as amended, and the applicable provisions of the prevailing general appropriation act covering the national internal revenue taxes and import duties of the national and local government agencies and establishing a special facility therefore”.
Office of Civil Defense Chief of Operations Neil Angelo Sanchez said that by applying this order, they might be able to waive the importation taxes but still have the imported mobile morgue undergo custom process.
If the equipment is imported under PMO 36, “the office of the President shall issue the necessary clearances to cover the aforesaid importations, which will serve as basis for the Bureau of Custom to process the papers relative thereto, and effect the release of the importations”.
Importation
Sanchez said that though there may still be payments to be made in the releasing of the mobile morgue from customs, they will not be as big if the equipment falls under PMO 36.
“We have also sent a letter to the NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council) asking to augment the operations in the RDCC (Regional Disaster Coordinating Council),” said Sanchez.
They have asked for the augmentation of funds from the National Government, since now they were servicing all victims of typhoon Frank, he said.
“Right now we are not only focusing on the victims of the mv Princess of the Stars tragedy, but all the victims of typhoon Frank,” said Sanchez. (EPB)
