Monday, February 19, 2007 More stocks of dubious cement brand shipped in By Carlo P. Mallo
ANOTHER shipment of the cement brand claimed to be substandard but has dubiously garnered standard certification has arrived in Davao City, an executive of a group concerned about product safety said.
Victoria Padilla, executive director of the Philippine Product Safety and Quality Foundation, in a press conference Friday said that not only is the product dubious, so are the processes involved in its importation.
Padilla said the importers of the cement will not be averse to selling their product much lower than the prevailing market price because of lower tariffs imposed on the shipment.
She presented documents to the media showing that the shipment of the cement in July last year had fraudulent declarations and that the shipment was undervalued.
Continuous under-valuation of imported products would be disastrous to the local industry and to the economy of the country, Padilla said.
"We are losing a tremendous amount in revenues, and we might be losing these job generating industries as well if we continue to allow these unfair practices of imported goods to continue," she added.
A shipment of about 14,000 metric tons of Conch cement arrived in Sasa Wharf, Davao City, last Thursday.
It was alleged that the shipment had no label and that it did not undergo the seven-day quality test required by the Philippine Government but instead had only a three-day quality test.
Also, it was learned that the product was able to secure an Import Commodity Clearance from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Southern Mindanao despite the irregularity in its quality test.
In July last year, a shipment of Conch cement entered the country through the port of Polloc in Cotabato and through General Santos City. This shipment was allegedly undervalued by as much as 50 percent of its actual market price. Its freight cost from the port of Nantong, China to the country has also been allegedly reduced to an all-time low of $3.00 a far cry from the average of $21.00.
Padilla, together with Ernesto Ordonez, president of Cement Manufacturers of the Philippines (Cemap) and a former DTI secretary, also disclosed to the media the inaction of the Bureau of Customs on the charges of under-valuation and potential fraud that they have filed with the bureau in September of 2006.
In the July 2006 shipment of Conch cement to the country, an estimated P1.6 million worth of revenues was allegedly lost as a result of the under-valuation of the freight.
Aside from cement, Padilla also revealed that there are other products that have dubious quality and yet still manage to secure an Import Commodity Clearance.
Among others, Padilla said that these products would include but is not limited to electrical devices, wiring, liquefied petroleum gas cylinders -- often declared as scrap metal, steel bars, nails, lighters, and even sanitary wares -- which has closed three of the five manufacturers in the country.
On the contrary, she contends that they are not against imported products, but that these should undergo proper quality tests and should pay the right amount of tariffs and duties.
