The Lower House Committee on Metro Manila Development passed an omnibus resolution last week asking the City of Manila to implement a three-month moratorium on its truck ban policy to help Manila ports trim their container backlog.
In a committee hearing on August 20 with government agencies and various port stakeholders, Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice noted, “I don’t think that a local government can hold hostage the economy of the whole country,” adding it is “high time” the national government act by “taking over the streets of Manila.”
The omnibus resolution also calls for identification of 12,000 Customs-cleared overstaying containers to be “moved immediately by whatever means” out of the Manila ports within a week to 10 days.
During the hearing Ernesto Ordoñez, co-chairman of the newly formed Working Group on Port Congestion comprising members of the private sector, said the government will publish a full-page advertisement naming consignees of overstaying boxes who, he said, are “making fools of the government” by using the ports as their warehouses to take advantage of low storage charges.
The committee also asked the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) to come up with a “synchronized or reconsolidated listing” of all containers in the yards, since the two agencies presented different data during the hearing.
PPA was requested to discuss with port operators about giving consignees forewarning that the ports are not their “personal container yard.”
In addition, PPA and BOC were requested to create a “management of empty containers.”
To clear roads outside ports, the committee will ask the Metro Manila Development Authority, local government units, and Department of Public Works and Highways to cooperate in removing illegal structures, illegal vendors, and other obstructions.
Furthermore, the committee has recommended the lifting of Joint Administrative Order No 2014-01, or the revised rules and penalties for illegal public utility vehicles, issued by the Department of Transportation and Communications, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and Land Transportation Office.
(A day after the hearing, the JAO was lifted by the LTFRB until such time the port congestion eases.)
Meanwhile, the National Economic and Development Authority has asked government research arm Philippine Institute for Development Studies to produce a study by September 15 on the impact of the truck ban on the Philippine logistics system and economy. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Gualberto 107 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
