GMA orders PPA to cut rates

President Arroyo has ordered the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to implement a 20-percent reduction in cargo handling rates.

This was announced yesterday by Luis Lorenzo, presidential adviser on million jobs generation.

According to Lorenzo, President Arroyo’s order is part of her commitment to bring down the cost of moving goods throughout the country as part of the economic development plan.

Earlier, the Coalition for Shipping and Ports Modernization (CSPM) called for an end to what they say as capricious increases in cargo handling rates. The group said shipping costs has risen by 80 percent since 1998.

The last increase of 20 percent, the CSPM said, was done only in the last few months.

The CSPM members include the Distribution Management Association of the Philippines (DMAP), the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the Export Development Council (EDC), the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), the Federation of Philippine Industries, the Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL), the Consumer Watch, the Consumer Complaint Center Inc., the Mindanao Business Council, the Northern Mindanao Shippers Association, the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Philexport-Cebu, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce, the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Cebu Business Council, the Association of Food Industries Inc., the Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association-Cebu and the Central Visayas Shippers Association. – Marianne Go