“It’s business as usual. In fact, martial law (ML) makes people safe going about their businesses,” Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said at the launch of the Philippine Development Plan (PDO) 2017-2022 and the Northern Mindanao Regional Development Plan (RDP) 2017-2022 expo.

Pernia said: “In the national scheme of things, the impact of the Marawi crisis and the declaration of martial law in Mindanao will not be having a consequential impact on the overall development plan, even for Northern Mindanao.”

It is going to be short-lived, he said, although it is going to be extended to make sure that there are no uprisings in the other parts of Mindanao and to make sure that the rehabilitation of Marawi will go smoothly without any interruption.

“Look at the macro picture, bigger picture,” he said. “It’s not really a hindrance. It’s more of a security for their lives and businesses.”

The launch was under the auspice of Leon Dacanay Jr., regional director of National Economic and Development Authority in Region 10 (NEDA-10) and vice chairman of Regional Development Council 10.

Asked how much the government has injected into the PDP 2017-2022 for the rehabilitation of Marawi, Pernia said the government has to carefully assess the destruction caused by the fighting.

“There’s going to be huge amount needed although the 2017 budget has made available P5 billion” he said. “And there’s going to be assistance from other countries like the United States, Australia, Japan, China, and some European countries.”

The business sector in the country – like Lucio Tan, he said – has also manifested its readiness to help in the housing rehabilitation. “There’s going to be different kinds of support from different sectors to be headed by the government,” Pernia said.

In the shipping and import industry, the implementation of martial law has no adverse effect on the transshipment of imported items to local ports in Northern Mindanao, said Alvin Enciso, chief of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service for Northern Mindanao (CIIS-10).

Military rule in Mindanao has even encouraged importers to ship their goods here, he said. The installation of checkpoints, specifically on highways to the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, has been perceived as advantageous to the importers for security reasons, he said.

Martial law has not hampered the collection efforts of the Bureau of Customs, he said. “Even with martial law, our imports have gone up,” he added. “We have already exceeded our target by more than P1 billion.”

In June, the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) subport in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, where the bulk of the imported materials arrive from other countries, recorded a collection of P811.23 million, an increase of 12.5 percent increase on its P721.11-million target.

In the same period last year, he said, MCT collected only P589.795 million, 20.19 percent lower than its P739-million target.

The MCT aims to collect some P8.53 billion by the end of 2017,he said. BOC-10’s overall target for this year is P11 billion.

Enciso said newly appointed BOC-10 district collector Jamail Marohomsalic is out to collect more taxes to realize the goal of the Duterte administration to build more infrastructure projects during his term.

Marohomsalic was appointed by Duterte as port collector of Cagayan de Oro, following the President’s assumption into office. Marohomsalic had served the port of Davao for 25 years in various capacities. In his one-year stint as Davao port collector, he exceeded his annual target by about P500 million.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Camcer Ordoñez Imam

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