Friday, October 13, 2006
Exporters shun Asean's 4-day holidays
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
CEBU CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo agreed Thursday "in principle" to exempt Cebu's exporters from the four-day holiday during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit this December.
The sector, which has been affected by the strong peso against the dollar, sought some relief from the President during an emergency meeting upon her arrival at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Airbase for her two-day visit to Cebu.
The industry stands to lose about P2 million daily or a total of P8 million if it will cease operating from December 11 to 14, Allan Suarez, president of the Confederation of Philippine Exporters Foundation-Cebu, said.
Some 120,000 workers, most of whom are employed by companies implementing the no-work, no-pay policy, will also lose four days' worth of earnings if the companies will observe the holiday.
The exporters, Suarez said, can no longer afford the 30 percent additional pay for workers if they will render services.
Under Proclamation 1032, which declared December 11 to 14 as special non-working days in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, employers need to pay their workers extra if they work during the holiday.
Earlier, Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr., head of the Asean Summit national organizing committee, told business leaders in Cebu to send a position paper about their concerns on the four-day holiday.
With a position paper, Paynor said the Asean national organizing committee and the Office of the President can deliberate on issues that they will raise and make "amendments on holiday declaration, if necessary."
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña convinced Arroyo to declare the Asean summit dates a holiday, citing concerns for the security of the foreign delegates and to ease traffic in the venues of the meetings.
However, Suarez told Sun.Star Cebu that workers at the Mactan Economic Zones in Lapu-Lapu City do not report for work during rush hours. They have work shifts at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
He also said exporters are willing to coordinate with authorities regarding security concerns.
Exporters need to meet production quotas and deliver orders to their clients by early next year.
"Four days is basically a week. We can't stay closed that long," Suarez told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview.
Aside from being exempted from the holidays, the exporters, who include representatives from the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc., Cebu-Fashion Accessories Manufacturers and Exporters, Cebu-Gifts, Toys and Houseware Manufacturers and Exporters Association Inc. and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, also asked Arroyo to order the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and government agencies vital to exporters to be open during the holidays to assist them.
BOC Port of Cebu District Collector Ricardo Belmonte said he is willing to help the exporters but hopes banks will also be open since they are needed in the operations.
"I don't see any reason for the BOC not to agree," he said.
However, he agreed that traffic concerns might be raised since operations at the Cebu International Port would mean delivery trucks and vans will travel along the Cebu International Convention Center, the venue of the summit.
After a verbal approval Thursday, Arroyo asked the exporters to submit to her office an official request in writing. Suarez said they will submit the letter by next week.
Belmonte said they will have to wait for the President's order but Suarez said a skeletal force at the BOC would be enough for them.
However, they will also ask freight forwarders, arrastre services and other agencies to also provide them assistance.
Aside from an exemption from the holidays, the exporters also asked the government to waive the collection of fumigation fees and to no longer make cargo inspections mandatory.
Suarez said exporters the mandatory inspections became "unnecessary" expenses and delayed the shipment of their products.
Inspections on a van cost P3,000.
However, Suarez said it will be the responsibility of an exporter to ensure the fumigation of export products to countries that have strict quarantine laws.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces is deploying a battalion from the Philippine Marine Corps to Cebu following the recent bombings in Central Mindanao that left scores of people dead and injured.
Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon said the Marine unit will arrive in Cebu City when transport facilities are available.
Esperon however did not say where the Marine battalion, composed of at least 500 men, will be coming from. "We are deploying at this point another Marine battalion to Cebu to augment our security forces thereat," he said.
He clarified that security forces have not received any specific information about possible plans by any terrorist group to strike in Cebu. He said the deployment is being made because the Armed Forces wants to be sure with the security in Cebu.
"As of now, we have not seen any threat but we want to be very thorough and very ready for the security provisions for the Asean summit," he said.
Armed Forces public information chief Bartolome Bacarro earlier claimed that the Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and its local counterpart, Abu Sayyaf Group, pose a threat to the summit.
Asked on the possible spillover of the bombings to Cebu, Esperon said: "We are continuously assessing that, our security forces, our agencies are continuously assessing the situation in Cebu where we will have the Asean summit in December." (With reports from VR/Sunnex)
(October 13, 2006 issue)
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