CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Bureau of Customs in Northern Mindanao (BOC-10) said Wednesday, April 21, it is set to restore the port of Cagayan de Oro’s previous status as international containerized shipment facility.
The port in Barangay Macabalan has ceased to receive international cargoes 15 years ago when facilitation of imported shipment was transferred to the Mindanao Container Terminal sub-port in Tagoloan town, Misamis Oriental.
The Macabalan port, BOC-10 said, was “once a haven of international cargo and heavily contributes to trade facilitation and revenue generation.”
BOC-10’s decision to bring back Macabalan port’s previous status came up in response to the clamor of various shipping lines led by American President Lines, which estimated the arrival of 300 to 400 containers per week at said facility.
John Simon, BOC-10 district collector, said plans are already underway to put the ports restoration plan into action after the agency has met with City Mayor Oscar Moreno and Engr. Isidro Butaslac Jr., of the Phil. Ports Authority, which manages the Macabalan port.
“This development is expected to boost the business and economic climate in the city as well as in Northern Mindanao. But with this development, the rise of the volume of cargoes will somehow cause inconvenience if not planned well as it will cause heavy traffic,” Simon said in a statement.
That is why, he added, the BOC-10 has sought the help of the local government unit to plan the traffic management and route of cargoes from the port.
Simon said Moreno has also expressed support to the proposed restoration plan but suggest to expand operation of Mindanao Container Terminal as a long-term plan for the metropolization of Cagayan de Oro.
He said the restoration would also be advantageous to the city government once the “Mandanas” doctrine will be fully implementd in 2022.
The Supreme Court granted in 2018 and reaffirmed in 2019 the petitions of Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas and former Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia Jr., under which LGUs’ IRA would come from 40 percent of collections of all national taxes from the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) revenue plus the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) collections of import duties and other taxes.
With the Mandanas ruling, the DBM estimates that first-class income provinces would have an increase of about P814 million in their IRA to P4.4 billion next year; highly urbanized cities, up by P394 million to P2.13 billion, and first-class municipalities, up by P187.62 million to P1.01billion.
The Philippine Ports Authority has also started to upgrade its stacking capacity in Macabalan Port to cater the international cargo shipment and already allotted 23,000 square meters for its designated port area.
