North Harbor turnover to consortium deferred ‘indefinitely’

The turnover of the Manila North Harbor to a private concessionaire has been deferred "indefinitely" amid labor issues, as well as supposedly stiff fees to be charged to port users. Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Oscar M. Sevilla said in a telephone interview there could be "bloodshed" if issues over the security of tenure of existing workers were not resolved. He also called on the consortium of Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. that won the concession last year — Manila North Harbor Ports, Inc. — to scale down proposed fees. "There are still many issues that need to be resolved by [Manila North Harbor Ports]. It does not have the complete equipment, the concession fees are too high, and the liners want [those] removed. They should only charge what the PPA is charging," Sevilla said. He said the consortium must have a dialogue with labor groups "so that when [it] takes over there will be no bloodshed." Officials of Metro Pacific and Harbour Centre could not be reached for comment. The consortium won the 25-year contact to manage the port in August 2009. It offered P14.5 billion to the government to manage and develop the port. The group earlier said it would buy more cargo and crane equipment, as well as develop two new terminals for the Manila North Harbor. The privatization of the port is expected to bring in P6.8 billion in revenues for the PPA. The PPA had moved the turnover to February 15 from January 15 pending talks with labor groups and ship liners. Labor groups inside the port claimed they could get fired. The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said it had written a letter to Manila North Harbor Ports seeking talks, but had yet to receive a response from the consortium. "The labor dispute hasn’t been addressed. We have not received any notice about absorption and that no worker would be laid off or replaced with contractual workers," Eugenio Bunganay of the National Federation of Workers Union, an affiliate of the KMU, said in a telephone interview. The PPA said the consortium might back out if the problems were not resolved. "There’s a possibility that they want to back out. They might surrender if these problems are not resolved. I think we can manage that. I don’t understand why they aren’t prepared," Sevilla said. — Emilia Narni J. David, BusinessWorld