OFFICIALS of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) and several mayors in Cebu Province have been invited to the Provincial Board (PB) to clarify who will finance the rehabilitation of port facilities damaged by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake on September 30, 2025.
Also read: 5 quake-hit LGUs await P8.05M in aid
PB Member Celestino Martinez III moved during their regular session on Monday, June 8, 2026, to invite CPA General Manager Francisco Comendador III and other CPA officials after the PB approved his resolution seeking a reassessment of the agency’s revenue-sharing arrangement with host local government units.
Martinez said the review would help determine whether cities and municipalities that host ports should receive a larger share of port collections, allowing them to fund repairs and rehabilitation in disaster-hit facilities.
Funding question
In an interview with SunStar Cebu on June 8 after the session, Martinez said the resolution was prompted by uncertainty over who would finance costly repairs and reconstruction of ports damaged by the quake.
“During the earthquake, it has been a long-standing concern between the LGU and the CPA as to the collection of revenue from ports, and at the same time for the improvement of the ports in their jurisdiction,” Martinez said.
“Ang pangutana nako sa CPA, unsa man kamo ang mogasto og ayo? Kung wa moy kwarta ikapa-gasto, ngano man? Kung naa pila man? is it enough to improve and repair the facilities affected by the earthquake?” Martinez said.
(My question to the CPA is: Will you shoulder the cost of repairs? If you do not have the budget, why? If you have an allocated budget, how much is it, and is it enough to improve and repair the facilities affected by the earthquake?)
Martinez said the invitation aims to determine whether the CPA has an allocated budget for port rehabilitation and, if it does, why the funds have not been released.
Local revenue
If the CPA lacks funds for the work, Martinez said host LGUs are proposing a temporary arrangement that would allow them to take 100 percent of port collections and use the revenue to repair damaged facilities.
“The other option proposed by LGUs is ‘buhii lang sa nang mga pantalan, mangita mi’g paagi na mapaayo na namo pero kami lang sa ang mo-kolekta sa revenue,’” Martinez said.
(The other option proposed by LGUs is: “Let go of those ports for the meantime. We will find a way to fix them, but we will be the ones to handle the revenue collection.”)
The dispute centers on the CPA’s 50-50 revenue-sharing arrangement with host LGUs. Local officials have argued that the split is not workable because cities and municipalities shoulder local repairs, public services and security around the ports.
In 2023, the Cebu Port Commission had approved an 80-20 profit-sharing split in favor of LGUs, but the arrangement had yet to be implemented pending higher management approval. The report also said the sharing arrangement covered fees from wharfage, arrastre, stevedoring charges and berthing, while the CPA retained supervisory functions over the ports.
More mayors
Other PB members also moved to invite mayors of LGUs with ports under the CPA.
Martinez’s motion covered the mayors of Bogo City and the towns of San Remigio and Medellin. PB Member Raymond Joseph Calderon moved to invite the chief executives of Argao, Oslob, Samboan and Santander, while PB Member Andrei Duterte moved to invite the local leaders of Danao City and the towns of Poro and Carmen.
The motions would give affected local governments a forum to raise repair needs in their jurisdictions.
Port damage
The moves came after reports of structural damage across coastal hubs after the Sept. 30 earthquake. Hagnaya Port in San Remigio, a gateway connecting mainland Cebu to Bantayan Island, suffered berth tilting and subsidence that allowed seawater to rise above the loading area during high tide.
Other reports said the CPA needed an estimated P623 million to repair and rehabilitate seven ports in northern Cebu that sustained damage from the magnitude 6.9 quake. The damaged ports included Hagnaya Port in San Remigio, Polambato Port in Bogo City and Kawit Port in Medellin.
Cebu local officials have raised dissatisfaction over the lack of progress, with Monday’s motions seeking an update from the CPA on the status of the proposed change and the agency’s plans for port rehabilitation. (Lucrece Gian Mae Lausa, CNU Intern)
