Solons to investigate port congestion

Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, chair of the Senate Finance Committee (center). Albert Calvelo / PRIB / Chiz Escudero’s Facebook page

MANILA – The senate will be conducting a probe on the adverse impact of congestion in two major ports in Metro Manila to prevent a potential crisis.

“This is already a nagging issue that, if left unabated, would hurt the gains of the country’s economy. It will hurt us bad since there is already that glaring truth triggering an economic crisis,” Senator Francis Escudero said.

Escudero is one of the two senators who filed a separate resolutions calling to probe the port congestion at the Port of Manila.

The port problems followed after the city of Manila imposed a daytime truck ban to address the city’s traffic.

This caused empty container vans owned by shipping lines to occupy 50 percent of the container yards eventually causing the congestion.

“It is time for the Senate to step in to abate this looming crisis.

It is already causing us economic backlash at costs we cannot afford. Look at the spoilage of perishable goods, the unavailability of raw materials, business losses in the import and export industries and idle factories. These are more than enough to clog the wheels of our economic engine,” Escudero said.