Truckers want routes open during Pope's visit

MANILA, Philippines - A group concerned about congestion at the Port of Manila on Thursday voiced their opposition to the blanket truck ban to be imposed across Metro Manila during the four-day visit of Pope Francis next week.

Ernesto Ordonez, co-chairman of the Private Congestion Multi-Sectoral Technical Working Group (PC-MWG), told reporters in Makati that congestion at the Port of Manila will most likely worsen from 78 percent last December 21 to 106 percent with port operations being affected by holidays such as the Translacion of the Black Nazarene and the visit of the Pope next week.

“One of the key challenges at this point is that the truck bans that are likely to happen during the Pope’s visit threatens to erase gains. Having a blanket truck ban for the duration of the Pope’s visit dramatically lowers the efficiency of trade to and from the port,” said Ordonez.

George Fermin of the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations (ACTOO), meanwhile, added that the ban need not cover every hour of the Pope’s five-day trip. He also suggested that alternate routes to and from the ports during the visit should be provided for cargo trucks.

For his part, Emerson Carlos, assistant general manager for operations of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said even if the truck ban is lifted during the Pope’s visit, trucks will not be able to enter or leave the ports of Manila as many roads will be closed to traffic for security reasons.

Carlos assured truckers that the truck ban would be lifted on the afternoon of January 19 after the Pope’s departure.

Ordonez earlier said the congestion at the Port of Manila is costing importers and exporters millions of pesos in additional costs including container fees and storage.

“This situation is wreaking havoc on the economy by slowing down our supply chain,” said Ordonez.

He said a study commissioned by the joint House Committees on Transportation and Metro Manila Development estimated that the economy lost P2.5 billion a day during the height of port congestion.

As a possible solution, Ordonez proposes the following measures: streamlining of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) accreditation process for importers, finding alternate space for empty container vans now parked at the Port of Manila, keep government offices that can help ease congestion problems at the port open except during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and for importers and cargo owners to continue operations and stop only on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Earlier, the PC-MWG called on the government to keep Roxas Boulevard open to trucks during the Christmas holiday period in a bid to decongest the Port of Manila and keep trucks and goods moving.

According to the group, any gains made in the bid to decongest the Manila Port have been "erased" by the truck ban on Roxas Boulevard.

"More than 30 percent of the commercial vehicles that use the ports ply Roxas Boulevard. And shutting down the highway to trucks during the holidays dramatically lowers the efficiency of trade to and from the ports. A single day's worth of truck ban along Roxas can actually erase many days of gains in terms of reducing port congestion," the group said in a statament.

He said that of the 6,000 trucks that use the Port of Manila daily, 2,000 pass through Roxas Boulevard. Recently, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) re-imposed the ban for trucks on Roxas Boulevard to make way for the visit next month of Pope Francis to Manila.

The MMDA, last December 3, implemented a temporary truck ban along Roxas Boulevard in preparation for the holiday season and major events the Philippines is hosting in January next year.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino junked the group’s plea saying the lane allotted for trucks going to Port Area in Manila will be used instead as an alternative route for vehicles going to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Tolentino said the truck ban aims to ease traffic congestion in the metropolis during the Christmas season, the visit of Pope Francis to the country in January as well as the hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November.

The truck ban should have been implemented last August but the agency extended it to alleviate port congestion, Tolentino said.