THE business sector in the province is complaining that the seven-day travel moratorium for Iloilo and Negros sought by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas has not passed any consultation and would create a business loss pegged at P50 million.
This was revealed on Monday, May 17, 2021, by Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( MBCCI), as he believes that the proposal has a low chance of getting the approval of the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF).
Carbon, who is also the operator of Weesam Express, one of the fast crafts operating in Bacolod to Iloilo and vice versa, said the reason why the NIATF will very likely not approve Treñas' request is that the government can no longer afford to take care of the Filipino people who are suffering from poverty due to the effects of the pandemic.
Since Treñas' request was only approved on the regional level, sea trips between Bacolod City, Iloilo City, and Dumangas are continuing normally.
The suspension of trips between the two islands will only likely take effect if the NIATF approves the travel moratorium.
Carbon said ongoing sea travels between the two islands in Western Visayas is greatly helping the local economy and that the suspension sought by Treñas would affect crew and personnel of the sea vessels, food vendors, tricycle and jeepney drivers, or the transport sector as a whole, porters and port operations of four major terminals both in Iloilo and Bacolod namely; the Bredco Port in Bacolod City, PPA Port in Iloilo, the Banago Port and Dumanggas Port.
The losses in the local economy for the one-week suspension sought by Treñas were pegged at P50 million, Carbon said.
Treñas earlier sought the moratorium due to the rapidly increasing Covid-19 cases in his city. The city mayor's request was later approved by the Regional IATF and the resolution was forwarded to the NIATF for approval.
Carbon also lamented that they were surprised by the proposal of Treñas because they were never informed and consulted about it.
"They made the decision without consulting the business sector even the small ones. We are very much affected by this pandemic and have been struggling for more than a year already," Carbon said.