DTI head can overturn Tariff Commish — CA

The Court of Appeals (CA) has finally ruled that the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has the power to overturn the decision of the Tariff Commission (TC) with regard to the imposition of safeguard measures.

The CA ruling stems from a case filed by the Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corp. (Philcemcor) questioning the alleged inability of the DTI Secretary to overturn findings of the Tariff Commission.

The Philcemcor had applied for safeguard measures against the influx of imported cement.

The DTI had initially agreed with Philcemcor’s claim after a preliminary investigation and even ordered the imposition of a provisional tariff of P20.60 per bag on imported cement.

Following a series of hearings and consultations, however, the Tariff Commission made a recommendation not to impose safeguard measures on imported cement.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II tried to overturn the TC recommendation, but found his hands tied following a Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion that the DTI Secretary must abide by the TC recommendation.

Philcemcor, thus, decided to elevate the matter to the CA.

The group also sought to scrap the TC report and recommendation, which the CA denied saying that the report is merely recommendatory and that it is up to the DTI Secretary to decide and deal with the TC report.

The CA also ruled that the imposition of the provisional safeguard duty of P20.60 is limited to the 200-day period.