At the Port of Manila, trucks sit in long lines to add their freight to towering stacks of

containers on the docks, while ships crowd Manila Bay, waiting for a chance to
unload cargo. The sight is common and poses a significant challenge for the
Philippine government: easing congestion at this port that handles the bulk of the
archipelago nation's imports and exports.
Nearly 900,000 cargo containers moved through the Port of Manila in the first
quarter of 2014 as activity at the port increased 6.3% from a year earlier, bringing
its so-called utilization rate to 98%, according to the Philippine Ports Authority. The
growing strain on the port comes as the Philippines' trade with the rest of the world
increases.Exports and imports rose 8.3% and 5.4%, respectively in the first six
months of 2014.
"There is one company which has shifted 50% of its volume outside the Philippines
because of delivery delays caused by port congestion," said Dan Lachica, president
of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc., the biggest
group of electronics manufacturers.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority, the government agency that oversees
economic development in areas around ports, says port congestion was a factor in
20,000 layoffs of private-sector workers in economic zones located in Manila's
neighboring provinces. And Kim Henares, commissioner of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue, the government's main tax collection agency, partly attributes an 11%
drop in tax revenue in August to congestion at the Port of Manila.
The problem has been exacerbated by delays of large infrastructure projects,
particularly an elevated road networkthe Skyway project--that would link the port
to areas north and south of the capital. The road network, which will connect
Manila's north and south expressways, was approved in 1995, but isn't expected to
be completed before 2016.
Another factor is the hangover effect of recently lifted restrictions on the hours that
trucks could enter Manilaan attempt to ease road congestion. The policy forced
businesses to cut the number of deliveries to the Port of Manila. Mr. Lachica said
delays resulting from the traffic policy that ended Sept. 13 disrupted the delivery of
raw materials, costing electronics companies as much as $100,000 a day.
Electronics account for 40% of the Philippines' exports.
Now that the rules have been removed, companies expect to send in more trucks to
reduce their backlog of goods, while port authorities hope the trucks can remove
containers to make room at the docks for more cargo arrivals ahead of the
Christmas season.
The Philippine government has taken some steps to combat congestion at the port.
Last week, President Benigno Aquino IIIdesignated two ports as extensions of the
Port of Manila, offering reduced fees to ships willing to deliver goods at the ports of

Subic and Batangas. The government is also transferring abandoned containers to

off-dock locations and asking Congress to discourage further restrictions on trucks
on Manila, said Siony Flores, a spokeswoman for the Philippine Ports Authority.
Economic pressure to find a solution is mounting. Economic Planning Secretary
Arsenio Balisacan said the economy would be growing more quickly if not for port
congestion, which he says undermines job creation. The Philippines is targeting
growth of between 6.5% and 7.5% for this year, but so far in the first half of 2014,
the economy has only expanded 6%.
Luz Lorenzo, an economist and market strategist for Maybank ATR-Kim Eng
Securities, said the second-quarter economic performance would have been
stronger if not for such problems as delayed cargo delivery and manufacturing
schedules caused by the congestion in the Port of Manila.
"What you want to see now is how the measures taken by the government will
progress," she said. "No doubt it has already affected the economy."
Students who belong to the less privileged sector of the society can soon avail of
Students Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (SGP-PA) as part of the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). The educational grant aims to empower
beneficiaries of 4Ps by providing them opportunity to get college education
therefore increasing their chance to get better employment in the future.

Last October 1, officials from the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD), a government agency tasked to oversee the implementation, visited CITE
and brought with them about 50 beneficiaries of 4Ps for an orientation. Production
Technology head, Leonardo Arriesgado presented them the programs of CITE
including the three-year program for male and one-year program for female
students.

The orientation ended with a tour to the facilities. The 4Ps is a social alleviation
strategy of the current administration that invests in the health and education of
the poor. A greater impact is seen after households are able to educate their
children through the conditional cash transfer.

At most 60,000 pesos grant per school year shall be provided to each studentbeneficiary to cover tuition fee, school fees, textbooks, board and lodging, health
and other related educational expenses and support services to complete the
program.