PPA net income soars 31% in 2019, highest posted 3 years into PDU30 admin

19 FEBRUARY 2020, MANILA—The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) books its highest income in history, only 3 years into the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The 2019 PPA net income has almost doubled the income registered in the first full year of management and operations of the current administration in 2017.

PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said that the strong financial performance of the PPA is due to the various changes being implemented by the current administration led by no less than the President and the Secretary of Transportation.

“The changes range from manual to automated processes, installation of sophisticated, effective, and higher productivity port equipment, compliance with the world’s best port management practices, and most especially, the shift in the outlook of employees to public service with reliability, integrity, and accountability,” Santiago said.

Latest data from PPA showed that the 2019 net income reached P7.280 billion or 31% higher than the 2018 figure of P5.553 billion. As against the target, the actual amount is 47% higher than the target of P4.941 billion. Compared to its 2017 net income of P4.473 billion, the current net income is better by 54%.

Combining all the growth percentages in the first 3 years of the current administration, the PPA net income is growing at an annual rate of 17%, the highest revenue growth percentage in any of the last 15 years.

“With this strong performance, the PPA again shall be able to help Government achieve its goal of giving comfortable lives to every Filipino not only through higher dividend remittance but also through efficient, effective and fast delivery of port services to our stakeholders and port users,” Santiago added.

Among the Port Management Offices that posted significant positive performance include South Harbor, Batangas, Davao, Surigao, and Bataan/Aurora. The positive deviation comes mainly from Lay-up fees, Ro-Ro fees, Domestic Dockage fee, Pilotage, the utilization of the Vessel Traffic Monitoring System, and other income.

Total revenues for 2019, meanwhile, increased by 5% to P18.352 billion as against the 2018 figure of P17.5 billion. As against the target, it increased by 0.92%.

On the other hand, the agency’s total expenses decreased by at least 15.5% to P8.008 billion as against the 2018 figure of P9.476 billion due to the significant decreases in the Repair and Maintenance aspect related to land improvement and other financial expenses. Non-cash expenses also declined by 15% to P2.727 billion due to the decreases in the amortization of the agency’s intangible assets and other losses.

In the next couple of days, the PPA is set to revisit its first-quarter performance targets in consideration of the current global concerns like the continuing threat of the COVID-19, the exit of Great Britain from the European Union, the West Philippine Sea, safety and environmental concerns, among others.

“Even with the continuing threat of global concerns, 'business as usual' is not an option but reducing the risk of these threats coupled with management anchored on best practices and public-service committed government personnel, our gateways connecting to the tourism and trade centers of the world, will remain competitive and responsive to any current global demands,” Santiago said.

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