The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is amendable to pay for foregone revenues of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) from the seven years worth of delayed toll-rate increase in exchange for complete lifting of the arbitration case that was lodged against the department in Singapore.
Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said his group is willing to settle the matter on the delayed tariff adjustments and claims with the group of Manuel V. Pangilinan outside the courts to hasten the process.
“What we are asking is they withdraw the case in the arbitration court, and agree on the contractual provisions on increases,” the DOTr said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Forum on Tuesday. “If they will withdraw the case, we will have more means to pay for the settlement and the conflict will move on.”
Tugade noted that there has been an “agreement with lawyers and principals” on the case, but a few kinks still need to be ironed out.
He noted that the government intends to implement the fare adjustments on a gradual basis, so as not to be a huge burden to road users of the Metro Pacific-operated expressways, namely: North Luzon (Nlex), Subic-Clark-Tarlac (SCTEx), and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressways (Cavitex).
“Remember, these toll rates are not for this year. It goes back from 2011, wherein there have been more contractual increases listed. If we implement that in one go, we might choke the public. So we are asking for gradual implementation of the adjustments,” Tugade said.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Rodrigo E. Franco noted that the two groups have yet to reach a “final form of agreement,” but said that his group supports the government’s position to “find a mutually acceptable way of settling the issue.”
“We have also considered that if we implement the increase in one go, it’s not going to be acceptable to the public, so we’ve already considered on agreeing on an adjustment on a staggered basis—that is the proposal we submitted,” he said.
Franco added that the group is keen on wrapping the issue up the soonest possible time. “As long as there is away to settle this, we are committed to terminating the arbitration case,” he said.
The toll regulator has not acted on the company’s three petitions for the rate increase for the Nlex, one filed in 2013, another in 2015 and one this year.
The accumulated increase would account to a 21-percent adjustment over the course of seven years. The concession that the Manuel V. Pangilinan-controlled company allows for toll adjustments every two years.
Petitions for adjustments for Cavitex—spread across three years—likewise, remained pending.
This has led to the government facing an arbitration case of over P7.5 billion due to the foregone revenues of tollways group. The amount continues to increase as long as the petitions for rate increase have not been acted upon.
Nlex Corp. and Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. sought in 2016 the intervention of an arbitration court for the settlement of the foregone toll revenues due to the government’s inaction to petitions for adjustments of two expressway companies under the Metro Pacific group.