Immigration, Customs, quarantine formally harmonized at Clark

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines  – Foreigners can now readily get special work permits at either Clark or Subic freeport where investors’ concerns have been eased by automated procedures reducing import and export requirements from 14 to only four.

These are among the fresh special privileges investors at Clark and Subic can enjoy as stipulated in a new manual harmonizing immigration, Customs, and quarantine (ICQ) rules and regulated in the two freeports now linked by the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

Officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) launched here yesterday the ICQ Manual formalizing the automated and harmonized operations at the two freeports.

A project of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC), the actual synchronization of freeport operations was actually initiated way back in December, 2008.

The manual launched yesterday, however, provided a detailed reference for the project’s continuity towards realizing Clark and Subic as “one economic corridor”, SCADC chairman Edgardo Pamintuan said.

CDC officer Mariz Mandocdoc said that the guidelines contained in the manual , called ICQ Manual, reduces the number of documentary requirements for investors both at Clark and Subic from 14 to only four.

 “Procedures have also been harmonized for the issuance of work permits and visa at Clark and Subic. Required fees have also been harmonized in both areas, while processing time and cost for requirements have also been reduced,” she said.

Mandocdoc noted that under the new system, most transactions at Clark and Subic are now automated. “Filing of quarantine papers usually takes one to two days before approval. Now, with the advanced submission of importation documents, quarantine permits can be issued in two minutes,” she said.

Under the automated transit and admission permit system (A-Taps) as stipulated in the manual, foreigners can obtain their visas and work permits anytime 24 hours a day, seven days a week, she said.

She also noted that because many transactions would be automated, the risk of graft and corruption would be significantly reduced.

 “Visa issued from Subic or Clark is valid nationwide. It’s a bar-coded sticker visa that can be issued at one-stop shops at Clark and Subic,” Francis Norman Lopez, president of the InterCommerce which developed the automated system of transactions at the two freeports.

Under the guidelines, immigration policies at Clark and Subic have also been harmonized. From these zones, the Bureau of Immigration can now issue to foreigners their needed special work permit (SWP), provisional permit to work (PPW), investor’s visa (IV), working visa (WV) and dependent’s visa (DV).