Shipowners: Oust Cebu port exec

CEBU - Now it's the turn of a coalition of shipowners and arrastre operators to give President Estrada a May 1 ultimatum to remove a board member of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) who, it claims, is biased towards the Associated Labor Union (ALU).

The coalition urged Mr. Estrada not to heed the demands of the ALU-National Union of Portworkers in the Philippines (NUPP) to oust CPA general manager Jose Antonio Elumir Jr. and commissioner Cerecio Mapula.

If the President relents to the ALU-NUPP's demands, coalition lawyer Bernardito Florido said Mr. Estrada will lose the sympathy and support of shipowners and arrastre operators.

The ALU-NUPP earlier had given Mr. Estrada a deadline to oust Elumir and Mapula who, it alleged, are anti-labor.

Florido and cargo handler Nilo Servila, for their part, gave Mr. Estrada until May 1 to oust CPA commissioner Tomas Riveral for being pro-ALU-NUPP.

Servila claimed that Riveral carries at the CPA the interest of the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp., the exclusive cargo handling firm at the Cebu International Port.

But Riveral said his tenure is at the pleasure of Mr. Estrada. -