Erap seeks share in Manila ports’ income

Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada is calling on Congress to enact a law that would require the state-owned Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to share with the city government the income it gets from port operations in the city.

According to Estrada, it is high time the city receives at least a percentage of the multi-billion peso revenues of PPA from the operations of Manila North and Manila South harbors and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT).

Unlike other port cities abroad such as Yokohama City in Japan which earns huge revenues from co-managing the Port of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Manila, as the host city of the Port of Manila, does not receive a single centavo from the PPA, according to Estrada.

Even Cebu City, he said, receives a share from the Cebu Ports Authority which operates the Port of Cebu, he added.

In 2016, PPA’s port revenues alone amounted to R14.13 billion, higher by seven percent compared to the 2015 total revenues and eight percent higher than the target, according to PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago.

Manila, Estrada pointed out, rightfully deserves a share from the PPA’s income considering the city carries the burden of maintaining the roads and managing traffic for hundreds of cargo trucks going to and from the Manila ports in Port Area and Tondo.

This income-sharing scheme was first suggested by Estrada early in 2014, with the City Council passing a resolution urging Congress to repeal or amend laws pertaining to the PPA “in order to rightfully give Manila the due and equitable involvement it deserves relating to the operations [and] income of all ports and harbors situated within the city.”