Change has to happen

Last Monday, an otherwise peaceful North Harbor was interrupted by a rally of sorts staged by around 30 or so people, who according to sources, are not even port employees. Fortunately, the action fizzled out due to lack of support from the other stakeholders.

Insiders revealed that organizers of the strike were recruiting people from outside of North Harbor as part of the hakot crowd. Each will be paid P1,000 a day and the plan is to barricade the main gate in Zaragoza in an effort to paralyze port operations.

Getting outsiders was resorted to because most if not all of the 1,200 port workers have been absorbed by the Manila North Harbor Port Inc. (MNHPI) and have signified their intention not to join the strike.

According to the grapevine, the Philippine Liner and Shipping Association (PLSA), which groups some of the shipping lines operating at North Harbor, are divided on the issue of supporting the strike.

They say only seven of the 44 shipping lines operating at North Harbor are members of PLSA. Of the seven, only three moving heaven and earth to stop the new port operator, MNHPI, at all cost. And these three are the same ones that have agreed to contribute P250,000 each for the strike.

Even within PLSA, the members seem not to agree on a number of issues. What is this we’ve heard that PLSA chair Daniel “Bitay” Lacson may resign from the board due to conflict with one of the members, more popularly known as the dragon lady.

The latter joined the bidding for the modernization and operation of Manila North Harbor, which was won by MNHPI, but lost after being disqualified.

One of the PLSA board members, meanwhile, is said to have an axe to grind against MNHPI chairman Manny Pangilinan, being a former official of one of MVP’s companies.

MNHPI is the joint venture company created by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Harbour Centre Port Terminals Inc. (HCPTI) of businessman Reghis Romero.

It’s unfortunate that until now, there are some stakeholders of Manila North Harbor who can’t seem to accept the fact that change has to happen.

Manila used to be the center of trade between Asia and Europe during the Spanish regime, and between the Philippines and the US during the American reign here. This brought about the development of what is commonly known as the Port Area in the city.

The Port Area or Port of Manila is divided into three areas – North Harbor, which serves the inter-island vessels; South Harbor, for international shipping; and the Manila International Container Terminal.

However, through time, North Harbor has not been able to catch up with the others, mainly because it has remained under government control. Remember that we have Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI) at South Harbor, and ICTSI operating the MICT, while North Harbor remained with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) until its recent privatization.

Over time, North Harbor had become a mirror of the inefficiency in our government.

North Harbor’s redevelopment and modernization had become a dire necessity not only to improve the country’s strategic position in Asia but to protect the people that use the port – the estimated nine million Filipino passengers and cargo operators, including the hundreds of workers in the said port. It is estimated that some 15 million tons of cargoes pass through North Harbor each year.

North Harbor needed a major overhaul to keep up with the changing times and demands given the highly competitive global environment.

As part of its contract with the PPA, MNHPI is spending billions of pesos to modernize the Manila North Harbor, to make it comparable if not better than the ports of its neighbors in the region.

Unfortunately, the PLSA has gone to the extent of taking PPA and MNHPI to court to question the contract. It has accused MNHPI of, among others, failing to provide appropriate equipment to handle cargoes from ships berthed at some of the piers.

However, MNHPI officials emphasized that they have fully complied with the requirements set by the PPA. For instance, they have already delivered 159 pieces of heavy and medium-sized equipment needed to accelerate the delivery of services at the country’s once premier port.

Some people just couldn’t let go of their decades-long control over North Harbor.

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