PPA-Tagbilaran lowers terminal fee to P15

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — Finally, the Philippine Ports Authority gave in to the request of the City Council to lower the terminal fee at the city's port where the terminal building is still unserviceable and passengers have to stay in the tents while waiting for departure time.

The Council received the response from PPA general manager Juan Sta. Ana last week informing that the new terminal fee, to take effect immediately, is now at P15, down from P20.

A Council resolution, proposed by Councilor Jeremias Pabe, earlier asked the PPA general manager to revert the terminal fee from the exorbitant P20 to the previous rate of P11. However, the PPA opted to minimize the cut and reset the new terminal fee at P15.

Sta. Ana said that, upon evaluation of the request, they found it that the reduced rate of P15 was appropriate for the use of the temporary passenger terminal building provided by the terminal operator.

He said that the reduced terminal fee of P15 is effective until such time that a new port terminal building is constructed and a new port terminal building operator is awarded with a contract to operate and manage the newly-constructed terminal building.

In the meantime, the PPA mounted several tents and portable toilets in lieu of a full passenger terminal service.

Attached to Sta. Ana's letter was the Memorandum for PDO Visayas and PMO Tagbilaran for the immediate implementation of the reduced rate. "Rest assured that the [PPA], together with its service providers, will keep on improving the quality service it provides to port users," he added.

Pabe said that, even if the PPA opted for P15 instead of reverting to the original rate of P11, the reduction was substantial in unburdening the passengers of high rate.

The PPA further assured the public that it already set the timeframe for the improvement of  port facilities that would be thrice better than the previous one. — (FREEMAN)