I AM glad that both the government and the private sector are united in addressing the congestion at the Port of Manila, which has adversely affected consumer prices and business operations, and threatened the Philippines’s economic growth.
Port users and stakeholders held a summit on Monday to discuss the growing concern over the port congestion. According to retired Col. Rodolfo de Ocampo, president of the Port Users Confederation, the summit was held to gather key government officials and business groups to discuss various issues in port operations and cargo transport.
“A meaningful and continuing dialogue between stakeholders and the government is imperative to ensure that action points succeed without undue impact on trade,” de Ocampo said. “Broad public and private-sector collaboration is needed in sustaining gains from measures currently being undertaken by these sectors.”
With the congestion hampering the flow of trade, port users are worried that their competitiveness would unduly suffer as a result.
“Cargo delays escalate costs for firms, especially storage fees, higher trucking rates and perishable goods going bad, all of which will eventually be passed on to consumers,” de Ocampo emphasized.
Exporters are also affected by the port congestion, as delays in imported raw materials for seasonal items, including garments, could lead to rejection due to late arrival.
The summit’s attendees discussed and recommended concrete measures to address specific port concerns, including cargo handling, customs procedures, traffic management, antismuggling and security, the regulation of shipping lines, and port development.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, Customs Commissioner John Phillip P. Sevilla, Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Juan Sta. Ana and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino were invited to the summit. Others asked to speak at the summit were Guillermo M. Luz, private-sector co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council; International Container Terminal Services Inc. Chairman and CEO Enrique K. Razon Jr.; and Asian Terminals Inc. Executive Vice President Andrew Hoad.
With more than 300 participants in attendance, including representatives from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Makati Business Club, as well as the major foreign chambers of commerce, the summit was a timely initiative, as the port-utilization rate reached a high of 110 percent in July due to the truck ban imposed by the city government of Manila in February. This level has been reduced to about 90 percent, but this is expected to increase again with the onset of the Christmas season.
Why pick on PCOS?
WITH the Commission on Elections (Comelec) set to hold a public bidding for more precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for use in the 2016 polls, certain quarters are apparently eager to stop the poll body from purchasing an additional 40,000 PCOS machines and to disqualify Smartmatic Corp., its partner in the 2010 and 2013 elections, from the auction.
Former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman and his group are pushing for an open-election system (OES) that provides for manual precinct-level voting and counting, combined with the computerized canvassing of votes, which, they say, will only cost between P4 billion and P5 billion. However, the OES was already rejected by the Comelec in 2009.
Smartmatic, however, believes that, with the globally acclaimed results of the 2010 and 2013 automated polls, and the vote of confidence by no less than the Supreme Court in the accuracy of the machines and legality of its Comelec contracts, the PCOS system should continue to be used in 2016.
Smartmatic’s Cesar Flores asserts that the firm has a solid international reputation as a manufacturer of electronic-voting machines: “We are a world leader in the provision of both types of voting machines, the OMR [optimal-mark reader] and the DRE [direct-recording electronic]. None of our competitors have manufactured…more electronic-voting machines than Smartmatic.”
The mongrel system of manual-cum-automated voting and counting junked by the Comelec in 2009 will contravene the intent of Republic Act 9369, which calls for the full computerization of the 2010 elections and succeeding polls through the use of the most suitable automated-election system technology in the “voting, counting, consolidating, canvassing and transmission of election results and other electoral process.”
Besides, the semi-manual system would be vulnerable to the return of the dreaded dagdag-bawas [add-subtract] system that had led to widespread violence and cheating in the past.
Moreover, there is neither fresh evidence nor new basis to warrant the disqualification of Smartmatic
from the bidding. In fact, the Comelec has dismissed all election-related protests resulting from the failure of losing candidates to show proof of any discrepancy between the PCOS-tallied votes and the post-election recounted votes in the contested areas.
According to the Comelec, it will hold a two-stage competitive bidding process that will be open to all eligible local and foreign bidders and will abide by the Manual for the Procurement of Goods and Services issued by the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB). The poll body’s adoption of the new GPPB process will “result in standardized technical specifications that will include input, not only from the bidders themselves, but also from all stakeholders.”
Helen Flores, head of the Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee, has assured all prospective bidders of fair treatment at the auction. By “all,” Flores was referring to Smartmatic and the four other companies that have, thus far, expressed interest in joining the bidding: Indra Sistemas; E-Konek Pilipinas Inc.; Election Systems and Software; and Miru Systems Co. Ltd.
“The specifications do not favor any single bidder,” she said. “Our basis is the law. They [bidders] are on equal footing.”
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.