MANILA, Philippines – Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras sees the continued easing of congestion at the Port of Manila after operations returned to normal a year after the imposition of a truck ban that uncovered the web of corruption and other problems in the cargo transporting business.

Speaking during a recent public hearing at the Senate, Almendras said discipline, a focused government plan on road connection and new technology contributed to the normalization of operations at Manila ports despite a pickup in trade volume.

In the remaining year of the Aquino administration, Almendras said the government is focused on the construction of railroads direct to the ports as well as connecting roads to address growing volume.

He admitted that he used to believe that there is a need to further open up and develop the Batangas and Subic ports to solve the port congestion in Manila.

“Until I studied the data and saw that the great disparity is that the cargo is for Metro Manila, actually the city of Manila, not Pasig or Marikina,” he said.

The secretary also cited the full port operations during Saturdays and Sundays as well as the discipline of truck drivers in following single truck lanes.

He said the connecting roads being built to land exactly at the Manila ports faced difficulty due to right of way problems. However, he said the rising volume of trade as a result of the constant growth in the economy made these roads necessary.

According to Almendras, the current situation shows that the truck ban is not a permanent answer to the traffic problem and a free-flow of trucks may actually be a better solution.

“There is an initiative with the Department of Public Works and Highways to find an alignment or an elevated spur way into the port. That is challenging and we are looking at waterways which is controversial,” said Almendras, who is also chairman of the Cabinet cluster on port congestion.

“Only a percentage of cargo goes to south or to the north (of Luzon) while a huge volume of cargo is intended for Metro Manila, a majority of which is actually for the city of Manila,” he added.

He said that someone proposed that the ports be kicked out of Manila, but explained to the city’s leadership that “it was not a good idea since it’s how the city was born.”

The introduction of the truck dispatch system and cooperation from more disciplined drivers have proven to work in improving the vehicular traffic situation in the city, without government intervention.