SEIPI warns of investor flight over BoC tracking
By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter
THE electronics industry said that the Bureau of Customs’ (BoC) Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo (E-TRACC) System is an unnecessary burden on chipmakers and may lead to their divestment from the Philippines.
Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI) President Danilo C. Lachica told reporters last week that the tracking system is an additional cost being borne by companies.
“It’s really redundant, and when we met with the BoC last week, they were saying that it would mean revenue losses if they stopped implementing it,” Mr. Lachica said.
“But I told them they would lose more revenue if the companies leave the country,” he added.
Launched through a memorandum circular in 2020, the E-TRACC System enables real-time monitoring of inland movements of containerized goods using a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled tracking device.
The system is designed to ensure that goods reach their intended destinations, and features an alarm should cargoes be diverted or tampered with.
“Our logistics providers have GPS systems, so they are already tracking them, and secondly, and I have told them this, in the 50 years of the electronics industry, there has been no incidence of smuggling,” he added.
He said that the E-TRACC system easily adds P1 million to P2 million a month in logistics costs.
“Logistics costs are already high, and then you’ll have to add P1-2 million a month; of course they will leave, and that is where the real revenue loss is,” he said.
“Because their headquarters ask them why they are spending this much in the Philippines, whereas in their operations in other countries they don’t have that kind of cost. So, what will happen is they will scale down their operations here,” he added.
He was reluctant to recommend an exemption for the industry because it might be seen as favoritism, but instead proposed a regulatory impact assessment via the Anti-Red Tape Authority.