The comprehensive guidelines to formalize the barter system will be presented before the Mindanao Barter Council for deliberations, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Deputy Executive Director Romeo Montenegro said yesterday.
“By September, we are looking forward that it will be discussed and finalized,” Montenegro said at the sidelines of Wednesdays @ Habi & Kape – Abreeza Mall media forum. “Once it is finalized and (is) implementable, then that’s the time that it will be enforced as guidelines,” he added.
Montenegro said part of the implementation of the comprehensive guidelines is to set up an office and recruit personnel to supervise the barter trade activity with the budget, which was submitted to the
Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
With the guidelines, stakeholders and goods to be shipped will be identified. “Also, to asses if the value does not exceed the allowable amount within the barter trade,” Montenegro said.
“These policy guidelines will also be complemented with the policy on the mode of transport. Right now, what being used are wooden `bangka’ which are not registered and do not have identity. Part of the barter trade system setup later on is to ensure that these non-convention size vessels are also tagged and recorded, it is also for security purposes,” he added.
The guidelines will be imposed among traders participating in the cross-border trading between Mindanao, Malaysia, and Indonesia in coordination with the existing barter trade offices.
The barter trade in Mindanao was recently in operation after three years of stoppage.
