As graft and corruption scandals in our government continue to hog prime-time TV and the front pages of news dailies, as well as the attention of many of our leaders, a bigger problem that continues to worsen each day is the current port congestion in Manila. This problem, compounded by the conflict between truck drivers and the local government of Manila, threatens to paralyze our economy and curtail the unprecedented growth our country is enjoying under the present Aquino administration.
Many businessmen are now saying that if this issue isn’t resolved within the next two weeks, it is very possible that many of them will choose to suspend their operations or, worse, close their business altogether. Business analysts have said that the economy has already lost several billions of pesos due to this issue, even as thousands of imported containers continue to be stranded at the harbor waiting in vain to be unloaded. This is a much bigger issue than the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam because if this isn’t resolved in the near future, we are looking at the possibility of thousands of Filipinos losing their jobs and joining the ranks of those currently mired in poverty. The DAP and the PDAF may be issues of paramount importance, but our government cannot just neglect the problem of port congestion as this is a gut issue that will ultimately affect the poorest of the poor in our country.
If the government is indeed serious in its efforts to generate more jobs for Filipinos here in our country, President Aquino should now show political will and leadership by immediately bringing together all the different stakeholders in this issue, such as the Department of Transportation and Communications, Philippine Ports Authority, Bureau of Customs, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the local government of Manila, the truckers association and the different business groups so that this
issue can be resolved as soon as possible.
—HARVEY S. KEH,
Institute of Governance
and Strategic Partnerships,
harveykeh@gmail.com