Duty-free cement, wheat imports OK'd

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved a proposal to extend duty-free imports of wheat and cement to stabilize prices, a Cabinet official said on Monday. Duty-free imports for the commodities, which lapsed last month, will last for six more months and will be enforced retroactively, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila told Malacañang reporters in a teleconference. Without the exemption, importers must pay a 3-percent tariff if they are buying from member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 5 percent if they buy elsewhere. In December 2008, Mrs. Arroyo issued Executive Orders 765 and 766, which lifted duties on cement and wheat for six months. After the directives lapsed, a six-month extension was ordered via Executive Orders 818 and 819 in July 2009. Both orders expired last Jan. 12. Favila did not say when the new directives would be issued. The Philippine Flour Millers Association, he said, had committed to keep prices upon learning of the extension of the zero tariff for wheat. "They told me they might be compelled to pass on to the bakers the cost of flour. I... told them that the zero tariff was extended and so they said they will not adjust their prices," Favila said. Ernesto M. Ordoñez, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, said: "We believe it [the tariff] should really be 5 percent." "We will follow the law even if 0 percent is difficult for us. We have nothing against imports as long as they are not importing substandard cement. We will be vigilant against substandard cement," he added. The revenue implications of zero tariffs, said Favila, are insignificant. "The Department of Finance and Department of Budget and Management, rightly so, had some reservations because of revenue implications. But [Finance] Secretary [Margarito B.] Teves said the amount was not really significant," he said. — Gerard S. dela Peña, BusinessWorld