Banago Port development needs legislation

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — The proposed development of Banago Port in Brgy. Banago Bacolod City needs legislation because it is classified as a “national port,” according to the legal counsel of the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corporation (BREDCO) yesterday.

BREDCO lawyer Roseller Maalat cited a Supreme Court ruling defining a national port and a municipal port, and determining that a law must be passed first in the case of developing the national port of Banago. 

“Municipal ports are created by executive order, while national ports are usually created by legislation, and that the maintenance of municipal ports is borne by the municipality (or city) whereas the maintenance of national ports is shouldered by the national government,” Maalat quoted a previous SC ruling on the case of Bureau of Customs commissioner vs. the Court of Appeals and Litonjua Shipping Company on berthing fees.

Maalat said that while BREDCO has legal basis to oppose the proposed development of Banago Port, at this point they are not going to the court yet. He said they will exhaust all remedies at the level of the DOTC.

Reports stated that the Philippine Ports Authority and the Port Management Office—Pulupandan were planning to construct a port for roll-on roll-off (RORO) vessels at Banago Port, with an estimated budget of between P700 million to P800 million.

BREDCO president Simplicio Palanca wrote DOTC Secretary Manuel Roxas asking him to stop the PPA from constructing a RORO Port in Banago.

Palanca further wrote: “This proposed port development by PPA at Barangay Banago is in close proximity, if not side by side, with Bacolod Port. A new port in Bacolod City will not only threaten revenues at Bacolod Port but eventually it will kill private port operation, which in the end, it is the City of Bacolod that will suffer.”

Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, during his visit to Bacolod, said that using government money against an existing private entity is anti-investment and that there should be a limit to the establishment of ports in one area.

“We have to balance the interests of the sectors here and we cannot use public money to kill another business entity. That is anti-business and should not be allowed because we want more investors coming in,” Tañada said.

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., for his part, said he was in favor of the possible operations of two ports in Bacolod in the name of competition, which will redound to better services. “Whenever there is competition, there is improved service,” he said.

Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. however called on the PPA and the PMO-Pulupandan to spread out port development projects outside of Bacolod, instead of zeroing in on Banago Port. “It is better for PPA to utilize the budget outside Bacolod City, considering that many ports in the province need the budget,” he said.

Alvarez said Negros Occidental has several ports that need rehabilitation and improvement, such as the ports in Sipalay City, Hinobaan, Pulupandan, Victorias City, Cadiz City and E.B. Magalona.

The huge budget could be re-aligned and utilized for other ports outside Bacolod to provide better access and services to more people, especially those from the southern and the northern part of the province.

Instead of creating competition against BREDCO port, which operates as a public port in Bacolod, PPA should think of improving other ports in Negros Occidental, Alvarez added.