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A CARGO
handler sued the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)
after the agency allowed other entities to use Boton
Wharf in Cubi Point, a naval air station in the former
US
military base.
SBMA
said that its action against Subic Seaport Terminal Inc.
(SSTI), which was previously granted the exclusive right
to use the said facility, was based on a court order
issued last week opening the terminal to other cargo
handlers and other users. The said contract was forged
by Salonga’s predecessor, Felicito C. Payumo in 2004,
when the government inaugurated the P200-million modern
fertilizer facility as part of the Philippines’
agriculture program.
“In as
much as we would like to respect the lease agreement
with the SSTI, which awarded them the exclusive right of
cargo handling of fertilizers, we are to abide by the
court which, in this case, nullifies the exclusive right
of the SSTI,” SBMA chairman Feliciano Salonga said in a
statement.
In
nullifying the government contract with SSTI, Judge
Ramon Caguioa of Olongapo City Regional Trial Court said
last week that it had negatively affected public
interest.
The
court, in a three-page decision, said that “the
exclusive rights granted to the SSTI amounted to a
combination in restraint of trade or unfair competition
because there is no public interest enhanced by reason
of such exclusivity.”
It added
that SBMA’s contract with the company, which used the
wharf for the handling of fertilizers from cargo ships,
negates the essence of the Freeport zone, which was
created to promote free flow of goods.
The
court decision was reached after JT Cargo Handling and
Port Services Inc., another terminal operator,
questioned the validity of SSTI’s exclusive right to
handle all cargo operations involving fertilizers in the
Freeport zone.
JT Cargo
filed the complaint after SSTI rejected its request to
use of Boton Wharf to unload its fertilizers, claiming
that SSTI’s exclusive right forces the owners of
fertilizers to look for other ports where it can unload
shipments, resulting in lost revenues for the SBMA.
Later,
JT Cargo secured a court order allowing the company to
unload its fertilizers and other goods in
Boton Wharf.
In 2004,
SSTI said that it chose
Subic Bay since it featured a deep-sea harbor and it shared the vision
of making the
Freeport
a fertilizer transshipment hub in the country. |
