Why are these officials resigning? This was the question raised by the camp of presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on the announced resignation of Collete Canilao of the PPP Center.
Duterte spokesman and head of media group Peter Lavina said it is bewildering why Canilao followed the lead of Philippine Ports Authority general manager Juan Sta. Ana in giving up their government posts.
They must be abandoning ship afraid to face the ire of the people of southern Philippines, he said.
The resigned officials should still be held liable and accountable for their acts on this over-priced PPP project, he added.
Lavina said the City Council of Davao passed a resolution on Dec. 21, 2015 calling for the filing of charges against officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications and the PPP Center over the anomalous Sasa Port Modernization PPP in Davao City.
He said the resolution was an offshoot of the continuing open defiance and violation of the provisions of the Local Government Code on lack of prior information and consent by the local governments on national government projects.
He said the DoTC and the PPP Center have been forcing down the throats of Davaoeños the modernization project that will have a total cost of P18.9 billion.
Lavina said the original cost of the PPA study in 2012 was only P4 billion. In comparison, he said the modern private container port in nearby Panabo City costs only over P5 billion.
He said various sectors are opposing the project including the Davao City Chamber of Commerce, tourism and environmental groups, consumers and informal settlers who will be displaced by the project. He said Sta. Ana resigned on the eve of the Senate investigation on Dec. 9, 2015 on the controversial project that again involved former DoTC secretary and Administration bet Mar Roxas and his replacement Joseph Emilio Abaya.
He said Senator Serge Osmeña described the project as a form of “forced taxation” because the people of Davao Region were not consulted with the expected rate increase on various port and shipping charges.
The first port PPP project under the Aquino administration calls for the conversion of the Sasa Port into a purely container terminal hub omitting the public port’s other role as handler of bulk and break bulk cargo that are not in container vans and cruise ship passenger facility.
One of the five qualified bidders, Portek Singapore, has withdrawn on account of the issue of lack of consultation and transparency and the viability of the project, Lavina said.