Palace orders Poro Point port closure
Vessels Diverted To Subic
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Inquirer
Inquirer
MALACAÑANG has ordered the temporary closure of the seaport at Poro Point in La Union until the Court of Appeals rules on a petition asking for the lifting of a temporary restraining order issued against a government takeover of port operations.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in a briefing, said all vessels docking at Poro Point would be diverted to Subic and there, unload their cargo.
Ermita did not elaborate on the reasons for the Malacañang order, but said it was in line with a cease and desist order issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the failure of the port operator, Poro Point Industrial Corp. (PPIC), to secure an environmental compliance certificate.
PPIC, a joint venture of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Bulk Handlers Inc. (BHI), said in an open letter to President Macapagal-Arroyo that the CDO issued by the DENR was just part of a ploy to boot BHI out of the port.
It said the takeover of the port by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) “is not about the environment.”
“In fairness to Secretary Angelo Reyes, and the DENR, we noted that the initiative for an environmental order to halt our operations came from the PPMC (Poro Port Management Corp.) and not from the secretary’s office,” said PPIC in its open letter.
PPMC, headed by Felix Singson Racadio, a relative of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, will issue an advisory for vessels entering Poro Point to instead go to Subic, according to Ermita.
Narciso Abaya, president of BCDA, said earlier in a visit to the Inquirer that it was the port’s operations that are causing pollution at Poro Point’s water and air.
He said while he knew that the pollution would continue even if the operations were handled by the PPA, he asked for the PPA help in running the port because a disruption of port operations would translate to hundreds of millions of losses for the region.
At least 70 interisland and ocean-going vessels use the port every month, he said.
Ermita did not say how the government would deal with the losses that Abaya had foreseen and tried to prevent through transferring the port operations to the PPA.
Abaya said all PPIC had to do was acquire an ECC from the DENR because that was what it lacked in its operations.
He can’t elaborate on questions, however, why a takeover of the port operations was the government’s answer to the lack of an ECC by PPIC.
In a visit to the Inquirer on the same day that Malacañang issued the closure order, Singson said he was staking his life and career to have the port contract with PPIC rescinded because it was “disadvantageous” to the government.
Singson said he has no personal interest in rescinding the port contract except for his concern for the economy of the Northern Luzon region. He said he has his own port and does not need the Poro Point for his personal business.
“Poro Point will not be operational until petition filed by the government (DENR) to set aside the TRO (temporary restraining order) is resolved by the Court of Appeals,” Ermita said.
Singson claimed that PPIC obtained a “sweetheart deal” under the Estrada administration to operate the port for 25 years at P50 million a year. Prior to PPIC’s entry, the port earned up to P20 million a month.
PPIC claimed that the DENR and PPA attempts to take over the port were just the latest in the continuing bid of Singson to take over the port since 2001.
Singson admitted it, saying Rogelio Singson, former head of BCDA and a distant relative of his, had been trying to have the contract renegotiated or rescinded “but he was powerless against the BCDA board.”
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in a briefing, said all vessels docking at Poro Point would be diverted to Subic and there, unload their cargo.
Ermita did not elaborate on the reasons for the Malacañang order, but said it was in line with a cease and desist order issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the failure of the port operator, Poro Point Industrial Corp. (PPIC), to secure an environmental compliance certificate.
PPIC, a joint venture of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Bulk Handlers Inc. (BHI), said in an open letter to President Macapagal-Arroyo that the CDO issued by the DENR was just part of a ploy to boot BHI out of the port.
It said the takeover of the port by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) “is not about the environment.”
“In fairness to Secretary Angelo Reyes, and the DENR, we noted that the initiative for an environmental order to halt our operations came from the PPMC (Poro Port Management Corp.) and not from the secretary’s office,” said PPIC in its open letter.
PPMC, headed by Felix Singson Racadio, a relative of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, will issue an advisory for vessels entering Poro Point to instead go to Subic, according to Ermita.
Narciso Abaya, president of BCDA, said earlier in a visit to the Inquirer that it was the port’s operations that are causing pollution at Poro Point’s water and air.
He said while he knew that the pollution would continue even if the operations were handled by the PPA, he asked for the PPA help in running the port because a disruption of port operations would translate to hundreds of millions of losses for the region.
At least 70 interisland and ocean-going vessels use the port every month, he said.
Ermita did not say how the government would deal with the losses that Abaya had foreseen and tried to prevent through transferring the port operations to the PPA.
Abaya said all PPIC had to do was acquire an ECC from the DENR because that was what it lacked in its operations.
He can’t elaborate on questions, however, why a takeover of the port operations was the government’s answer to the lack of an ECC by PPIC.
In a visit to the Inquirer on the same day that Malacañang issued the closure order, Singson said he was staking his life and career to have the port contract with PPIC rescinded because it was “disadvantageous” to the government.
Singson said he has no personal interest in rescinding the port contract except for his concern for the economy of the Northern Luzon region. He said he has his own port and does not need the Poro Point for his personal business.
“Poro Point will not be operational until petition filed by the government (DENR) to set aside the TRO (temporary restraining order) is resolved by the Court of Appeals,” Ermita said.
Singson claimed that PPIC obtained a “sweetheart deal” under the Estrada administration to operate the port for 25 years at P50 million a year. Prior to PPIC’s entry, the port earned up to P20 million a month.
PPIC claimed that the DENR and PPA attempts to take over the port were just the latest in the continuing bid of Singson to take over the port since 2001.
Singson admitted it, saying Rogelio Singson, former head of BCDA and a distant relative of his, had been trying to have the contract renegotiated or rescinded “but he was powerless against the BCDA board.”
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
6:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home