AN UMBRELLA group of consumer stakeholders on Saturday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to stop the 24-percent increase in the cargo handling tariff the Philippine Ports Authority has approved for the Manila North Harbor Port Inc., warning the increase might encourage smuggling.
Rodolfo Javellana Jr., president of the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters, said the tariff hike was against the President’s 10-point economic agenda which is to increase business competitiveness, attract investments, and protect the Filipino people from “economic shocks.”
“Consumers will ultimately bear the brunt of this tariff increase because traders will just pass on the added costs to the public,” Javellano told a news forum.
“The public will always be at the losing end. MNHPI says it wants to upgrade its facilities to justify the tariff increase, but they want consumers to pay for their upgrade. It is as if MNHPI wants to be the only one to benefit from this set-up and the technical working group sided with them,” Javellana added.
Javellana also said his group wrote a letter to PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago asking his office to review the decision of the PPA technical working group to approve the tariff hike despite the objection of Manila North Harbor clients opposing the increase.
The group asked Santiago to suspend the approval of the tariff hike and order an audit on MNHPI instead.
“While we acknowledge that the PPA board has already adopted the recommendation of the TWG, it is also within your power to rectify this error, which will have serious adverse implications on our business climate in general, and on ordinary consumers in particular,” the UFCC letter to Santiago stated.
“All stakeholders of Manila North Harbor, which is operated by MNHPI, have rejected the proposed upward adjustment in tariff, but the TWG assigned to this case has conveniently disregarded the concerns raised,” the group added.
For instance, Javellana said the Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association questioned MNHPI’s justification for the increase, citing “upward trend in cost drivers” and the increasing cost of operating Manila North Harbor.
“The members of the technical working group are going against what President Rodrigo Duterte had laid down in his 10-point socio-economic, which is to increase business competitiveness, attract investments, and protect Juan dela Cruz from economic shocks,” Javellana said in a press statement.
Javellana added: “Consumers will ultimately bear the brunt of this tariff increase because traders will just pass on the added costs to the public.
“The public will always be at the losing end. MNHPI says it wants to upgrade its facilities to justify the tariff increase, but they want consumers to pay for their upgrade.
“It is as if MNHPI wants to be the only one to benefit from this set-up and the technical working group sided with them.”