PPA: Anyone messing up pier ops will be penalized

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Sanctions will be imposed on anyone committing “economic sabotage” by disrupting operations in piers, including those taking part in the so-called truck holiday protest.

Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Santiago issued the warning on Wednesday in a press briefing at the PPA office after several trucks and private vehicles clogged up the entrance to the Port Area on R10 Road in Tondo, Manila, as part of a six-day truck holiday protest.

“Ang punto kasi dito: Yung ating pantalan, ito yung gateway daanan ng komersyo. These facilities are imbued with public interest,” Santiago said. “Importante ito sa ating ekonomiya.”

[The point here is that our ports are the gateways for commerce. These facilities are imbued with public interest. They are important to our economy.]

Even those not part of the truck holiday, he stressed, will be punished, as long as they are obstructing the flow of commerce in piers.

Truck owners started the protest to call out the government on its plan to phase out aging trucks and demand solutions to the congestion problem in the Port of Manila.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade tagged the protest as a “concerted disruption” of port operations and considered it “economic sabotage.”

Santiago said the vehicle owners would face sanctions depending on the damage they had caused.

He noted that agencies, such as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), would issue the penalties.

“Yung economic sabotage may kaukulang penalty na criminal, depende sa magnitude na kung ano yung ginawa nila, depende sa damage. Yun ang kanilang pananagutan maliban sa administrative sanctions sa penalties and fines ng appropriate agencies tulad ng LTFRB,” Santiago said.

[Economic sabotage will have the appropriate criminal penalty, depending on the magnitude of what they’re doing, depending on the damage. That’s what they will face, besides administrative sanctions, penalties and fines to be imposed by appropriate agencies like the LTFRB.]

Last Monday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) warned that they would impose sanctions on those proven to have affected the “free flow of commerce to and from the Port of Manila by preventing and/or threatening the operations of trucking companies.”

READ: DOTr to sanction vehicle owners engaged in ‘economic sabotage’

Santiago added that they would evaluate the violations of those who participated in the protest. He also noted the sanctions would be based on the permit issued by the LTFRB and the PPA.

“Titingnan din natin dun sa mga na-identify na truck kung meron silang na-violate sa permit to operate whether sa prangkisa condition ng PPA o prangkisa condition ng LTFRB. Doon natin titingnan kung karapat-dapat natin silang bigyan ng sanctions,” he said.

[We will see if the trucks identified violated their permit to operate, or the franchise conditions of the PPA, or the franchise conditions of the LTFRB. That’s how we will determine if they sanctions should be imposed on them.]

Santiago said concerned agencies would also further study the evidence presented during the protest to determined the sanctions that would be imposed.

“May mga na-identify naman kung sino nag-organisa at may mga aktibong nakilahok sa mga aktibidad,” he said. “Titingnan natin based on document evidence, sa mga recorded evidence kung may elemento na presente sa mga aktibidad na kanilang sinalihan at kung ito ay magmemerito ng kaukulang asunto, kung saan kasama ang economic sabotage.”

[We have identified those who organized and those who participated in the activity. We will look at documentary evidence, at recorded evidence if there are elements present in the activity that will merit filing the appropriate case, including economic sabotage.] /atm