System adopted to address corruption in ports

MANILA, Philippines - Port operators yesterday said a system is in place at the ports that makes it useless for any stakeholders like importers or truckers to resort to bribery in order to get things done.

The International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) and Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) said they have adopted a system at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and the Manila South Harbor designed to smoothen operations as well as discourage collection of illegal fees.

Cards are being utilized by ICTSI at the MICT for the deposit of empty containers while ATI uses a traffic light system at the South Harbor to determine whether a shipment would be accepted or not.

At the South Harbor, empty containers are automatically rejected if a red light is shown. According to both port operators, entries beyond the allowable slots are automatically rejected by the system.

ICTSI and ATI have expressed surprise at the revelation of Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras that corruption is compounding the problem of port congestion. Congestion at the ports worsened after the implementation of a truck ban by the city of Manila in February. The ban has since been lifted.

Almendras revealed that truckers were charged between P500 and P2,500 before they were allowed to enter the ports.

Both port operators urged major shareholders not to pay anything outside the usual fees.

According to the port operators, cargo owners, shippers, and truckers may check available slots for each shipping line on the web portals of ICTSI and ATI.

Officials of the two port operators said, however, they are investigating extortion activities at the gates of the MICT and South Harbor as alleged by Almendras.

ICTSI and ATI said only checkers employed by the shipping companies are present at the gates of MICT and South Harbor to check the condition of the containers.

“Human intervention at the gates is limited. These checkers, however, have no hand in managing the yards,” a port official said.

Sack PPA chief

If he can have his way, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said he would simply sack the head of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and replace him with someone more competent in decongesting the Port of Manila.

But when pressed for comment on Almendras’ claim, Estrada said it’s not his job to address alleged extortion activities at the port.

“I don’t want to interfere with that because it is under the jurisdiction of the national government,” he said, referring to allegations of extortion and other illegal activities at the port.

“But if I will be the one to resolve it, I will place the leader of the PPA under investigation,” Estrada said. Juan Sta. Ana is PPA general manager.

“Who’s on top? It is command responsibility,” Estrada said.

He said that when he was president, he dismissed then finance chief Ed Espiritu and replaced him with Jose Pardo.

“The finance department had functioned well under Secretary Tito Pardo. The head of the PPA should be immediately replaced to solve the problem on congestion in ports due to corruption as reported. The head of PPA is liable for command responsibility,” Estrada said.

He said corruption would never flourish in an agency without the knowledge of the agency’s head.

“Don’t tell me you are the head of the agency and you do not know what your subordinates are doing? As head of the agency, you are responsible for the action of your subordinates,” Estrada said.

“It’s simple mathematics. That means he should be replaced immediately. Like what I did with kotong (mulcting) cops here in Manila. Low ranking policemen got involved in kotong because there is a payola to the station commander,” Estrada said.

Immediate action

Meanwhile, extortion and other illegal activities at the Port of Manila must be dealt with immediately to help ease the monstrous traffic problem and prevent the prices of goods from skyrocketing, Sen. Bam Aquino said yesterday. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Christina Mendez