The Anti-Red Tape Authority, or ARTA, made a surprising move in backtracking on an earlier approval of a port digitalization plan, apparently bowing to pressure from several powerful groups.
ARTA’s about-face effectively shot down what could be the Marcos administration’s most potent anti-smuggling weapon.
ARTA director general Secretary Ernesto Perez said the decision to reject TOP-CRMS is “final” and denied bowing to outside pressure.
“We’ll study our options. As far as we are concerned, ARTA already issued a Good Practice RIS (regulatory impact statement) with a 36/40 rating for the TOP-CRMS program. I don’t think they have retracted that or recalled the rating which they previously issued,” Philippine Ports Authority general manager Jay Santiago said
Santiago added: “We submitted all required documents to ARTA sometimes twice even and they even consulted all stakeholders including oppositors before they issued the Good Practice RIS. The situation has not changed, so we don’t understand what happened.”