MANILA — Several truckers group have launched a three-day transport holiday starting Tuesday, October 6, whiling calling on the government to address truck bans, pass-through fees, and other issues their sector faces.
In a joint press conference, the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines, Aduana Business Club Inc., and Inland Haulers and Truckers’ Association said their operations are also affected by the empty container return crisis for international shipping lines and a shortage of truck-trailer drivers.
The group also led a motorcade in Manila and went to different government agencies, including the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Philippine Ports Authority, to call attention to their problems.
According to CTAP president Mary Zapata, trucks should be allowed to freely pass through different LGUs.
She said Executive Order No. 41 issued in 2023 prohibits collecting pass-through fees on national roads and urges LGUs to consider suspending collecting fees from vehicles transporting goods.
"Ngayon, tuloy uli ang truck ban, tuloy ulit ang paniningil, at wala kaming magawa dahil hindi kami makakapasok sa teritoryo ng mga LGU kung hindi kami papayag sa kagustuhan nila," Zapata told reporters.
(But now truck bans are back, collections are back, and we cannot do anything because we cannot enter an LGU's jurisdiction unless we agree.)
She said the sector is seeing the worst conditions in the trucking industry's history.
“Nung pandemic time, ang ating diesel is P35 per liter….tapos kaming trucker parang importante kami noon sa mga government officials. Libre kaming makapasok sa pier, libre kaming makalabas, libre kaming dumaan sa kalsada," she said.
(At least during the pandemic diesel was at P35 a liter and government officials treated truckers like we are important... We could freely enter piers, we could move out freely, we could use the roads.)
NO CONTACT APPREHENSION POLICY
Truckers also admitted their sector is worried about the consequences of the reimplementation of the No Contact Apprehension Policy, which began on Monday, October 5.
The groups said that with stricter implementation of traffic rules under NCAP, their drivers might incur several traffic violations that could lead to the cancellation of licenses.
"Nagdagdag pa sila ng pahirap sa driver, hindi na namin alam kung saan pa kami pupulutin sa mga susunod pang panahon," Zapata added.
(They have added to the burden of drivers. We don't know where we will end up because of this.)
Zapata said the policy would "definitely [be an] additional expense [for] everybody" since higher transport costs would mean higher prices.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs said it respects the groups' right to air their issues and said it is open to holding a dialogue with them.
BOC Chief of Staff Atty. Chris Noel Bendijo said the industry's issues are very complicated and need a whole-of-government approach.
He said there is an "imbalance of importation" that affects the availability of cargo containers since only one leaves the country for every four that come in.
"So yung tatlong empties, dito pumapasok yung problema ng ating mga truckers na masyadong maraming empty containers ang kanilang dinadala at walang espasyo na mapagsosolian," Bendijo explained.
(So the three empties lead to the truckers' problem of too many empty containers and there is not enough space to leave them.)
Bendijo admitted government infrastructures need an upgrade to cope with the fast rising industry of shipping and trucking.
But he appealed to the truckers for patience and continued dialogues as a response to the issue, saying truck holidays affect businesses and the public.