BENGUET, Philippines — Vegetable traders and truckers lashed out at the alleged excessive collections by the Philippine Ports Authority and Bureau of Customs in the Batangas and Matnog ports.
They said they need to shell out from P2,000 to P7,000 per truck to be prioritized for loading onto roll-on/roll-off ships bound for Visayas and Mindanao.
Vegetable traders and truckers from the group Tawid Dagat claimed that failure to pay the PPA and BOC personnel at the ports means the delivery of their perishable goods will be delayed.
Under a policy implemented during the Arroyo administration, trucks loaded with perishable goods like highland vegetables and fruits should not be unnecessarily delayed in the transport to their intended markets in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.
Traders and truckers said that they often suffer heavy losses when the goods rot because of the delay in loading. These losses result in higher prices for consumers, they said.
Benguet and some areas of Mt. Province and Ifugao supply at least 80 percent of the country’s highland vegetables market.