ARMM traders welcome new trade link with Vietnam

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Traders welcomed with optimism the newly established link between the biggest seaport in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Vietnam.

The feat revived the facility past administrations virtually ignored, failing to improve ARMM’s economy.

“This is something very positive,” said Cotabato City-based merchant Pete Marquez, an official of different business blocs in Central Mindanao.

Hexsan Mabang, acting manager of the Polloc Port in Parang town in Maguindanao, said Wednesday that the reconnection of the facility to the Asian business community got credence with last week’s arrival of the first ever shipment of 8,400 metric tons of cement from Vietnam.

“That pioneering shipment of cement was properly documented. It signaled the start of a trading partnership between Vietnam and ARMM,” Mabang said.

The office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman has been improving the Polloc Port since last year using allocations from the region’s yearly infrastructure subsidy from the national government.

“The revitalization of the operations of the Polloc Port comes at a time when the present administration is concreting vital thoroughfares connecting towns in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao to major markets in the two provinces and in nearby regions,” Mabang said.

Traders in Cotabato City are optimistic the initial shipment of cement from Vietnam will increase in volume by many folds in the coming months owing to the massive construction of ARMM-funded road projects in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

Business groups in China tried supplying ARMM with cement in 2006, but only one shipment was facilitated owing to lack of commitment then from the regional government to help strengthen the fledgling trade venture.

Hataman got to the helm of the ARMM government only in December 2011, first as appointed acting governor and subsequently, as full-fledged regional governor following his election to office during the May 13, 2013 electoral exercise in the autonomous region.

Mabang said credit for the revitalization of the operation of the Polloc Port should go to Hataman and Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, who are helping each other improve all ports in the autonomous region.

The autonomous region covers Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Hataman and Lina signed two months ago in Davao City an agreement binding their respective offices to mutually cooperate in strengthening the operations of all seaports in ARMM.