Former President and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presides the committee on transportation oversight meeting in Hilongos, Leyte on Tuesday (March 5, 2019). (Photo by Sarwell Meniano)
TACLOBAN CITY -- The House of Representatives committee on transportation has been finding solutions to reduce the cost of transporting products through the existing nautical highway.
Former president and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led on Tuesday the oversight meeting on the nautical highway system and shipping cost of goods joined by transportation sector officials both from government and private sector.
The meeting has tackled three concerns: the expensive cost of transporting agricultural products from Mindanao to Luzon, availability of container vans for small producers, and charges for using weighing bridges.
“We have a resolution here to lessen the cost of transport. The Philippine Ports Authority will continue to weigh, but they cannot charge. It can be done. Just like the Department of Public Works and Highways, they don’t charge motorists for their services,” Arroyo told reporters in a brief interview.
Bukidnon (3rd District) Rep. Manuel Zubiri said at least three oversight meetings have been held since last year to tackle the issues on high cost of transporting goods from Mindanao to Luzon.
“We choose this province as a venue of this meeting since Leyte is an area where we believe this is going to grow in terms of commerce. This is a key area for nautical highway from the south going to northern part of the country,” Zubiri said.
Next week, the technical working group (TWG) formed by the transportation committee will meet next week to consolidate inputs from the oversight meeting. The TWG, chaired by Zubiri, has Marikina City (1st District) Rep. Bayani Fernando and Misamis Oriental (1st District) Rep. Peter Unabia as members.
The TWG will review the potential impact of waiving weighing charges to the government’s revenue to finance massive infrastructure spending.
“That is a good move for the private sector, but we need to review since we need to generate funds for ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. If it is good for the country, we will do it,” Zubiri said.
Arroyo launched the Roll On/Roll Off (RoRo) system during her presidency in 2003, which connected the three main islands of the Philippines, making travel faster and increasing trading among provinces. The former president wants the RoRo system to be revitalized and expanded to further spur growth in the regions.
Figures presented by Zubiri showed that RoRo shipping expense outpaced direct shipping costs, despite RoRo being touted as a cheaper shipping alternative.
Of six providers, the cheapest quotation to transport goods from Bukidnon to Metro Manila was PHP65,000 and the most expensive was PHP138,000. In contrast, the cheapest RoRo route clocked in at PHP88,800 and the most expensive stood at PHP138,000. (PNA)
