As this developed, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has also opposed the proposed tariff hike and instead called for a status quo on the steel tariffs pending a formal review of the petition and holding of public consultations where the position of the downstream industries is formally presented.

"GSII should be requested to submit their proposed business and rehabilitation plan for NSC,’’ a PCCI position paper said.

Salvio Perez, president of the Filipino Galvanizers institute, told reporters after yesterday’s first public hearing conducted by the Tariff Commission on the GSII petition that they strongly opposed any tariff hike on tinplates, hotrolled coils (HRC) and coldrolled coils (CRC).

The downstream industries suspect the government is bent on issuing an EO imposing tariffs on the three products within the week or before the new Congress opens on Monday.

Under the law, the Executive Branch can only impose tariff hikes through EOs when Congress is not in session. The 13th Congress will open on Monday, July 26.

It appears that GSII is amenable to a tariff hike of 5 percent for HRC from three percent and 7 percent for CRC from three percent and 7 percent for tinplates from zero.

Perez noted the undue haste of the government in coming up with the EO before the Congress opens on Monday.

Perez pointed out that the GSII petition to the National Economic and Development Authority asking for tariff range of between 25 to 30 percent dated February 5, 2004 but it was only last week that it was forwarded to the Tariff Commission.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which co-chaired with NEDA on the Cabinet-level Tariff and Related Matters, called for a meeting on Tuesday last week among steel industry stakeholders to discuss the petition of GSII.

Perez said the downstream industries received a notice of public hearing only last July 16, a Friday, and the notice was published in the newspapers the following day, a Saturday, informing all parties of the public hearing scheduled yesterday, July 19.

The downstream steel industry players were given until today (Tuesday, July 20) to submit their position papers on the GSII petition.

"It is evident there is haste in all these proceedings, apparently there is evidently undue haste,’’ Perez said.

Since the closure of NSC in November 1989, local galvanizers import all their raw material, CRC, at three percent tariff.

"From the time that NSC closed, most of the downstream players invested billions to modernize our plants and become globally competitive. Now, we are exporting,’’ Perez said.

Perez claimed that domestic galvanizers are exporting to the West Coast, China, Hong Kong and ASEAN countries.

But Perez noted that even during the time when NSC was still operating under its Malaysian owners, the Iligan-based steel company did not modernize nor upgrade its facilities.

"Now a new operator of same existing facility in Iligan is asking for tariff protection when they cannot produce the quality requirement that the industry needs,’’ Perez said.

So far, GSII has done initial production of CRC only at its Iligan plant but Perez said its produce has yet to be accepted by the industry in terms of cost and quality.

"They should be competitive not by way of tariff protection but by way of product quality and service quality and the only way to do is for the new owners to modernize and upgrade its facilities,’’ he said.