THE PHILIPPINE Ports Authority (PPA) is deferring the collection of rental and concession payments for lessees and port operators by 30 days.
PPA said in a press release on Friday it released a memorandum circular signed on April 23 granting a 30-day payment extension from the last due date within the enhanced community quarantine.
Once the grace period has expired, the 12% interest and 25% penalty charges per year will be imposed on late payments of rental and concession fees.
The memorandum covers all PPA lessees and port terminal operators required to pay rental and concession fees in their lease contracts, agreements, and guidelines.
“This initiative is also part of the ‘Bayanihan sa Pantalan’ as it aims to give the port users and other stakeholders the much-needed relief while the country continues with its struggle from the clutches of COVID-19,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said.
Bayanihan sa Pantalan is PPA’s program offering relief goods to port workers, as well as security guards and public transport workers close to the ports, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Mr. Santiago said the measure will not affect PPA’s revenue generation as it is only a deferment.
“We will calibrate this measure as we go along with our fight with the dreaded disease,” he said.
PPA on Tuesday turned over the Eva Macapagal Super Terminal Bayanihan We Heal as One COVID-19 Treatment Center to the Philippine Coast Guard to treat patients infected with COVID-19.
Fourteen business groups on Thursday asked government to cut logistics costs by implementing “a moratorium on demurrage/detention fees, port congestion surcharges, and other penalties imposed on cargoes/ shipments stuck at the port due to slow DO issuances/bank processing/customs clearance and apply this retroactively to all shipments affected.”
The business groups also asked the government to extend the free storage period at the ports to 10 days from five days and asked to remove PPA’s share in cargo handling revenues. — Jenina P. Ibañez
