A LAWMAKER on Wednesday has called on his colleagues to stop the hearings on the port- congestion issue, saying the problem has been solved, and that government agencies are already working to address the issue.
Liberal Party Rep. Fernando Gonzales of Albay made this remark after Raul Santos, Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) assistant general manager, reported to the House Committee on Transportation in a recent hearing that congestion at the ports in Manila has started go down and that the utilization has eased up despite the increasing volumes.
“Congestion is dwindling and utilization has come to a manageable level, but we at the PPA continue to coordinate with the Cabinet cluster on port congestion,” Santos said.
Gonzalez, vice chairman of the transportation committee, said there is no congestion in the ports in the first place.
“Our ports have the capacity. It is operated well. The problem is that road capacity has not coped up with the capacity of the ports,” he added.
Gonzalez, who worked as a young stevedore in Legazpi port, was former operations manager of a local stevedoring firm. He also worked overseas in the ports of Jeddah and Dammam in Saudi Arabia for 10 years until his return to the Philippines
in 1987.
He also likened the port to the human heart and the road network to arteries. “Even if you have an extremely powerful and strong heart, but if the arteries are clogged, what happens?” Gonzalez said.
“The next step is for the government to expand road infrastructure. The problem is not the port but the limited roads that serve the port,” he added.