Poro Point Seaport , Group welcome TRO against BCDA takeover --Manila Bulletin

Poro Point Seaport

Group welcome TRO against BCDA takeover
Mon Jun 05, 2006


A major civic group in Northern Luzon recently lauded the decision of Judge Robert Cawed of the Regional Trial Court Branch 29 of San Fernando City in La Union to stop the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and its subsidiary Poro Point Management Corporation (PPMC) from taking over the Poro Point Seaport from its present private operator.


Cawed recently slapped BCDA and PPMC with a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) following a complaint lodged by Bulk Handlers, Inc. (BHI), the private sector partner of BCDA in the Poro Point Industrial Corporation (PPIC) which operates the seaport.

BHI holds a 70 percent stake in PPIC based on a 1999 contract it signed with BCDA.

In the complaint, BHI lawyers sought to enjoin BCDA and PPMC from any take-over move.

The National Consumers Welfare Advocate (NCWAI) said the court’s move "should somehow assuage the growing fear among businessmen and investors in the region triggered by the reported takeover of the seaport by BCDA."

The group also expressed optimism that the San Fernando City court "would issue a writ of injunction soonest so that the BCDA and PPMC could permanently be prevented from creating undue anxiety among investors in the area."

The NCWAI earlier warned BCDA chair Filadelfo Singson-Rojas and president Narciso Abaya that a take-over "would send the wrong signal to investors that the government does not respect the sanctity of contracts." The group said the local business community "does not know of any legal or moral basis for a BCDA take over."

The take-over fear was triggered by a resolution by the PPMC board led by Singson-Rojas and Felix Singson-Racadio, PPMC president, declaring the BHI-BCDA contract signed in 1999 null and void. Local businessmen viewed the move as the prelude to the planned take-over.

What we know is that BHI has consistently remitted more than P50 million yearly to BCDA as part of their contract, NCWAI spokesman Conrado delos Reyes said.

The regular payments were made by BHI despite the failure of BCDA to turn over some 80 hectares of seaport and industrial areas within Poro Point to BHI as provided for in the 1999 deal.

The group urged Singson-Rojas and Abaya "to refrain from taking steps that would scare off investors in the region."



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