PRESIDENT DUTERTE should order the compulsory pre-shipment inspection (PSI) of all containerized imports to thwart the large-scale smuggling of illegal drugs through the Port of Manila.
The President is in a position to administratively direct the mandatory PSI at the country of origin of all containerized cargoes destined for the Philippines.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) already requires all “bulk and break-bulk imports” to undergo PSI. Containerized imports should also be required to go through PSI.
All of the estimated P21-billion worth of methamphetamine or shabu smuggled through the Port of Manila in three batches between May 2017 and July 2018 arrived in 20-foot shipping containers from China, Malaysia and Taiwan.
PSI is the practice used by governments, mostly in developing countries, of requiring importers to engage accredited third-party surveyors to verify shipment details, such as the price, quantity and quality of goods, before cargoes depart the exporting country.
PSI is used to prevent the undervaluation of taxable imports and to compensate for the inadequacies in the importing country’s customs and other administrative structures, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Infuriated by rampant corruption that enabled P11 billion of the illegal drugs to slip through, President Duterte last week ordered the “military takeover” of the BOC.
PSI would also put an end to chronic corruption at the BOC that costs the National Treasury tens of billions of pesos in lost import taxes every year. Only those engaged in smuggling as well as rotten officials are opposed to PSI, because they stand to lose a lot of money from their rackets at the BOC. (Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza, House Senior Deputy Minority Leader)