(Privilege Speech of Congressman Leopoldo N Bataoil, 2nd District of Pangasinan, for House Bill 7788 he filed recently at the House of Representatives)
The spirit of change has been engulfing the Philippine Archipelago, since the ascension into power of Mayor Rodgigo Roa Duterte as the newly elected president of our land in the last May 2016 elections. He may not be the messiah of this country but one thing for sure he is the burning iron rod of this new generation.
Like every one of us in this August body, we think of bold steps that would complement President Duterte’s effort to deliver the people from the quagmire of poverty. This representation thought of national projects that would probably change the economic landscape of the country and become a viable competitor in the Asia - Pacific Region within the next six years. This representation thought of the establishment of an international transhipment port in the Lingayen Gulf in my home Province of Pangasinan.
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| Pangasinan Second District Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil. |
As early as 1834, the Spanish government opened the Lingayen Gulf through Sual as an official port of foreign trade. Rice was exported to China and Macao from this port. It was also one of the country’s centers for shipbuilding, together with Labrador, Lingayen and Dagupan.
International trade experts described the Philippines as a country located at the center of the trade routes of China, Japan and Australia. They opined that the country’s proximity to Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and not a far distant away from South Korea and Thailand could have made her the Trade Hub of Asia and the Pacific Region. It may be recalled that during the Spanish colonial period, Chinese goods were shipped to the west through Galeรณn de Manila.
Mr. Speaker and colleagues, “an estimated $5 trillion worth of goods are transported through South China Sea also known as the West Philippine Sea shipping lanes each year, including more than half the world’s annual merchant fleet tonnage and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide. Oil transported through the Malacca Strait from the Indian Ocean, en route to East Asia via the South China Sea, is triple the amount that passes through the Suez Canal and fifteen times the volume that transits the Panama Canal. According to Robert D. Kaplan, some two-thirds of South Korea’s energy supplies, nearly 60 percent of Japan’s and Taiwan’s, and 80 percent of China’s crude oil imports flow through the South China Sea.
Given the above seaborne trade scenarios, this representation believes that our mother land should now adopt an economic model which has been found effective and in fact brought Singapore to where it is now. This policy is known as “Intermediary trade to Entrepot trade”.
Singapore could thus be said to rely on an extended concept of intermediary trade to Entrepรดt trade, by purchasing raw goods and refining them for re-export, such as in the wafer fabrication industry and oil refining. In addition, Singapore's port infrastructure and skilled workforce, which is due to the success of the country's education policy in producing skilled workers, is also fundamental in this aspect as they provide easier access to markets for both importing and exporting, and also provide the skill needed to refine imports into exports. In 2015, Singapore reported its export on refined oil at USD 37.7 B. This is on top of what they sold to hundreds of thousands of ships having port calls in their ports through their bunkering services every year. In fact, Singapore is one of the top bunkering ports in the world – 42.4 million metric tonnes of bunkers are reported sold in 2014.
Noting this irreversible trend in seaborne trade and commerce in South China Sea that traverses the Spratley Group of Islands, which form part and parcel of our country’s exclusive economic zone, it is imperative and high time now to build an international transhipment port in Lingayen Gulf, in the Province of Pangasinan.
It must be noted that both Malacca and Singapore Straits have been marred not only with congestion problems but a couple of safety issues and environmental threats and constraints. In fact, the authorities of Malaysia and Indonesia have had advised the owners of post panamax vessels, chinamax, and capesized vessels to take the Sunda - Lombok - Makassar - Straits and then Sibutu Passage and Mindoro Strait trade route in going to and from the Persian Gulf or Sea of Adens to China, Japan, South Korea, and the USA and vice versa.
The envisioned Lingayen Gulf International Transshipment Port will be modelled after the Port of Singapore. This will have built-in facilities such as but not limited to:
a. Oil Refinery Facility - an industrial process plant where crude oil and natural gas are processed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas.
b. Oil or Natural Gas Depot Facility or Tank Farm - an industrial facility for the storage of oil and/or petrochemical products and from which these products are usually transported to end users or further storage facilities.
c. Container Terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment will be between container ships.
d. Wharves structure built on the shore of or projecting into a harbor, stream,etc., so that vessels may be moored alongside to load or unload or to lie at rest.
e. Shipyard is a place where ships are repaired and built. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger.
f. LNG Terminal is a facility for regasifying the liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipped in by LNG tanker from the production zones.
g. Warehouses
Having these kinds of facilities in Lingayen Gulf will make our country very competitive in refining crude oil and export the same and petrochecmical producst in Asia, and provide reasonably price bunkering services to vessels because we could produce refined oil at cheaper price than Singapore. A case in point is the wide difference in daily wage or monthly salary rates between Singapore and Philippines. We have highly skilled and motivated young labor force, many of whom are currently employed in the oil refineries of Singapore and the Middle East Countries.
We can also supply our domestic oil market, which the Department of Energy reported that some 52% of our refined oil requirements are imported. However, the volume of crude oil which will be refined for local domestic market purposes must be governed with the applicable provisions of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
This representation seeks to transfer the container terminal operations of the Port of Manila to the Lingayen Gulf International Transshipment Port, which accounts to some 40% of the traffic congestion problem in Metro Manila. In effect, this project would provide ease in doing business in Metro Manila and the Port of Manila would soon be dedicated as cruise ship destinations and passenger terminal. This would also pave the way for the development of the prime real estate assets of PPA into new commercial business districts of the City of Manila. Hence, the realization of the Lingayen Gulf International Transshipment Freeport Project would make Manila a livable city.
Mr. Speaker and my steemed colleagues, united we can change the national economic landscape of our mother land and spread its benefits to the countryside.
Thank you.
READ:
Sual Mayor presses P’gasinan solons to lobby for int'l seaport
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