The Commission will forward its recommendation to the Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM), which will decide if it would be elevated to Malacañang for the issuance of an Executive Order to effect the tariff elimination before the new Congress opens next month.

Industry sources, however, vowed to contest the total lifting of the tariffs saying this would have a double whammy impact on government customs collection and lower collection of tax payments of cement companies because imports could eat up on their sales performance.

At yesterday’s hearing, the TC’s collegial body composed of chairman Edgardo Abon and his two commissioners recognized the need to bring down to zero the duties imposed on cement to facilitate imports at lower landed cost.

Should the tariffs be finally brought down to zero with the issuance of an EO, it would be now the responsibility of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to make sure that importers will not be taking advantage of this by just leveling their prices with those of the local manufacturers.

"There should be vigilance on the part of the government," the official said.

The commission conducted a hearing on May 8 on the petition to eliminate the 3 percent tariff imposed on cement coming from Asean countries and 5 percent for Non-Asean members.

But industry officials called the decision of the commission hastily done. CeMAP had requested for another public hearing, which the commission refused saying the first and only was sufficient enough and vowed to consider the position paper submitted by the industry in their decision.

The government’s move to lift import tariffs on cement stemmed from several complaints from different sectors. The government’s low cost housing project is among those that complained against high cost of cement.

Cement prices produced by the three foreign firms Holcim, Cemex and Lafarge, which dominate the local industry, have skyrocketed to as much as P200 per 40-kilogram bag at some point.