Pearl Harbor Part 2

One interesting thing about Holy Week is that Metro Manila transforms from an overcrowded bustling city to a near graveyard. The shops are closed, the streets are empty, and the people gone. No doubt, millions of Filipinos leave the city and troop to the provinces during this season. They jampack the buses, the trains, the planes, the automobiles, and the ships just to take the week off.

Right smack in the middle of this heightened need to provide Filipinos with transportation is the recent row between Tseunishi, a Japanese firm and Negros Navigation Co. (Nenaco), one of the pioneer shipping companies that have been transporting millions of Filipinos to the provinces and back at modest, affordable rates.

Negros Navigation owes Tseunishi money. Because of this debt, Tseunishi has gone to court to "attach" a Nenaco ship which is more than four times the value of the debt. In effect, this should have somehow settled the matter.

However, sources in the ports say that during the Holy Week, Tseunishi tried again to get the courts to stop Nenaco’s other boats from serving tens of thousands of passengers by holding the boats in the Manila port.

This is where I have to call foul.

If Tseunishi has problems with Nenaco, then they have to resolve it, but never at the expense of the Filipino public. What Tseunishi is trying to do is to cripple Nenaco by getting the courts to hold all their boats during this season where the need for transport is highest. What they have failed to realize is that it will be the poor Filipinos that they will be crippling more than anybody else.

Our government agencies like the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) and especially the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) headed by Al Cusi, and Manila Harbor head Al Cruz cannot let this happen. They cannot allow a foreign Japanese firm to jeopardize tens of thousands of Filipino families and leave them stranded in the ports like poor refugees.

Let the Nenaco boats serve the riding public. Tseunishi and Nenaco must resolve their dispute but never at the expense of the Filipino families that need the service. Today, and throughout next week will be days Filipinos will need transportation to get back to Manila. Let’s pray that in the spirit of the Easter season, Tseunishi does not try a sneak attack like Pearl Harbor against Nenaco to the detriment of the riding public. Let’s hope they resolve their differences like grown men and not in a manner where the collateral damage is the Filipino people. Finally, let’s pray that our government agencies governing these big companies see that their true purpose is to serve the public, not the interest of businesses.

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