Manila to end SGS contract

Manila to end SGS contract

MANILA (DPA): The Philippines might cancel its import monitoring contract with Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) due to the firm's failure to curb rampant smuggling, President Joseph Estrada said Wednesday.

"We are paying them billions of pesos but they have not been able to stop smuggling," Estrada told Manila radio station DZRH. "That's why we are studying if we can drop their services. We might just cancel our contract with the SGS."

SGS, which boasts of having monitoring teams in at least 140 countries, is paid some two billion pesos (US$51.2 million) annually to inspect at the ports of origin all goods and commodities entering the Philippines since 1986.

Under the agreement, all SGS-inspected shipments are sealed and marked and are allowed entry into the country without further inspection. The contract prohibits the examination of such shipments except in cases when the SGS seals are tampered.