Comelec proclaims Gwen and Greg

The Cebu International Port has been given a five-year renewal of its accreditation under the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code extending up to 2011. Cebu Port Authority port facility security officer Oscar Lopez made the disclosure even as he announced that the domestic version of a ship and port facility code will enter into force for all domestic ships and government and private ports nationwide in August.

Lopez said the Office for Transportation Security issued the renewed accreditation in December last year, making. CIP one of the few international ports in the country to have been given the five-year renewal. The CIP security zone extends to a 500-meter stretch where foreign ships are calling. The domestic base port has a three-kilometer stretch.

In 2004, the International Maritime Organization made it mandatory for all ships and ports serving international voyages to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. IMO is the United Nation’s maritime security body.

ISPS is basically a risk-assessment and risk-management activity that requires ships, ports and contracting governments to establish a framework in detecting vulnerability and security threats among ships and port facilities used in international trade. It seeks to take preventive measures against vandalism, theft, pilferage, smuggling and terrorism.

CIP was the first port nationwide to have been given an ISPS accreditation in June of 2004. To be ISPS compliant, CPA set up perimeter fences around its 500-meter security zone, increased guards, established regulated access systems and evicted squatters and illegal port users that had infested the ports for decades.

Though there is no formal study yet, Lopez said that empirical data based on incident reports reveal significant decline in vandalism, theft and pilferage at the CIP since ISPS implementation spanning close to three years. There was also improved  cargo flow and more streamlined access regulation procedures.

He said ISPS accreditation increased client confidence for foreign ships to dock at the Port of Cebu. “When you secure the port, you secure business and when you secure business, you secure revenues,” he said.

Lopez however could not say if ISPS implementation has reduced incidents of misdeclared cargo or document fraud. He said detection of narcotics, weapons and drugs smuggling and cargo security still have to be reckoned with in the absence of x-ray machines that can scan container cargo.

The customs bureau had announced that it would soon be installing x-ray machines that inspects cargoes in containers for drugs, weapons and other contraband.

Lopez deplored that security still has to be improved on the waterside.

Implementation of ISPS in the country continues to hitch on snags owing to the absence of a maritime or transport security law and where its enforcement body lacks personnel capabilities to address direct threats.

Malacañang has designated the Office for Transportation Security as the sole designated agency responsible for maritime security through executive order 311. But OTS official Ed Israel said that the transportation security office is “more a policy formulation and oversight” agency.

He owned up that “OTS does not have investigation capability.” In the event that there are maritime security incidents, Israel said that “OTS will still rely on the police or the coast guard to investigate for them.” — Ruth G. Mercado