EDITORIAL – Derailed

THE petition for a Writ of Continuing Mandamus and Writ of Kalikasan with Temporary Environmental Protection Order filed before the Supreme Court last Monday will imperil the allegedly overpriced P18.9-billion Sasa port modernization project. It is a controversial project proposed by the Department of Transportation and Communications and opposed by local government officials, the business sector and civil society in Davao City and neighboring areas due to several objectionable features.
In fact, latest word from insiders in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center indicated that the bid submission scheduled on March 28 has reportedly been postponed to another month, the umpteenth time that this process has been reset.
“The mere filing of this petition will imperil the bidding process,” former Davao City councilor Peter Laviña said. Laviña is one of the petitioners in the group represented by lawyer Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. that filed the 26-page petition. The other petitioners include incumbent Davao City Councilor Diosdado Mahipus Sr., former councilor Pilar Braga and Antonio Vergara, urban poor representative Benjie Badal, and the Samal City Resort Owners Association, Inc (SCROA).
The petitioners charged that bidding for the project continued despite the lack of an environment permit, consultation among members of affected community and local government consent. The respondents in the case are Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, the DoTC, its Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
The petitioners cited the urgency following the March 28 scheduled resumption which cited the seaport development as the first project lined up for the public-private partnership program of the current administration. 
Laviña, spokesperson of Davao City Mayor and presidential candidate Rodrigo R. Duterte, said in an earlier report that the project is allegedly intended to fuel the government’s spending for the campaign of its standard bearer Mar Roxas, who once headed the DOTC.
He said that “the project is very anomalous from the start and that the DoTC has ignored the city government, so we need the highest court to do something to stop this anomaly.”
The project cost, which was pegged before at only around P3.5 billion when the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) conducted a study few years ago but ballooned to almost P19 billion as shown in the assessment of a firm contracted by the DOTC in 2013, is opposed not only by the city government but also the business sector.
Members of the SCROA headed by Pastor Lozada Jr. said in the same report that “the association is filing this suit out of genuine concern regarding the impact of the proposed modernization not just on their respective businesses, but also on the ecology and environment of Samal Island as a whole.”
Bonifacio T. Tan, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., said as much as he is not opposed to any development, the implementation of the project will result in higher cost of handling fees and other port and shipping charges.
With the troubles bedeviling it now, our hunch is that the Sasa port modernization will not see the light of day under the outgoing Benigno Aquino III administration. It may have to wait for the new administration which is expected to assign implementors who will follow the law and respect and know how to consult local authorities and other stakeholders before proceeding with the gargantuan project.