Friday, April 11, 2008 Port cargo-handling firm hits demolition job
PRUDENTIAL Customs Brokerage Services, Inc. (PCBSI) has cried foul over the alleged demolition job undertaken by "bad losers" against its firm, which is the new cargo-handling operator of the Dumaguete City port.
PCBSI counsel Joel Obar, in a statement, stressed that the losers in the bidding for cargo-handling operations in Dumaguete are "bad losers."
He stressed that the PCBSI, which won the bid fair and square, is now the subject of a demolition campaign to destroy its reputation.
PCBSI, he said, won the contract to handle port operations and was duly installed on March 12, 2008.
"The law is entirely at the side of the PCBSI and no amount of innuendo could demolish its impeccable record as a cargo handler," the lawyer said.
He further said the "losers" in their "dubious" desire to obtain the cargo handling contract are now doing everything, legal and illegal, to gain control of the port of Dumaguete.
"It is said that because they are well placed in the political strata they could use the LGU (local government units) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) to advance their evil intentions," he said.
Obar also stressed that "losers" are allegedly even insulting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by dragging her and her relatives into the issue.
The lawyer cited a press release sent by an anonymous group that accused a brother-in-law of President Arroyo for allegedly maneuvering the moves of PCSBI that contributed to its labor problem with Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) members.
The statement, sent to all media outlets in Dumaguete City, said other bidders of the cargo handling services questioned the backing given by Representative Iggy Arroyo, brother of first gentleman Mike Arroyo, to PCBSI, owned by the family of Grace Ibuna.
The group believes that PCBSI was able to take over the port since it was a favored cargo handling company, having the support of Iggy Arroyo.
Representative Arroyo is reportedly a "special friend" of Grace Ibuna, one of PCBSI's top executives.
Obar also stressed that "losers" went so far as to support the striking workers' "unlawful" acts.
"At the rate these losers are conducting themselves they have unfairly compromised the Office of the President. They are the new kind of economic saboteurs and political destabilizers," Obar said.
He also said that public service is farthest from their minds as they continue to hold hostage the entire province of Negros Oriental for their own selfish and material interests.
"It is hoped that the intelligent people of Dumaguete will rise in indignation against these bad losers," he said. (VLC)
