The Philippine Ports Authority will reopen the Dumaguete port today, taking over the disputed cargo-handling services for one month while top level talks continue in an attempt to solve the ongoing labor problem.

Renato Tolinero, Dumaguete port manager, said the order to reopen the port was signed by PPA General Manager Oscar Sevilla.

Tolinero said the port will reopen at 8 a.m., three days after he closed it Wednesday due to the labor dispute.

But he said he is anxious that violence may again erupt as the his orders are to utilize the workers of Prudential Customs Brokerage Services, Inc., the existing cargo handling operator, at the Dumaguete port.

The entrance and exit gates of the port have been blocked by former port workers belonging to the Associated Labor Unions, who are demanding that PCBSI, which assumed as the cargo handler last March 12, absorb all 118 of them and recognize their union as the collective bargaining agent. This is still the subject of a pending court case as the ALU has vowed to take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court.

“I hope [the ALU members] will realize that we are only following orders here,” Tolinero said.

He said he has again requested for assistance from the Philippine National Police to ensure that the gates would be free and open to the public.

Dumaguete Mayor Agustin Perdices welcomed the news of the port’s reopening, but expressed dismay at the PPA order to hire the workers of PCBSI, saying this might only result in another violent dispersal operation when the PPA opens at 8 a.m.

"The problem is not yet solved," Perdices said.

Perdices said Rep. George Arnaiz was scheduled to make representations with Malacanang last night to change the PPA order and instead hire the ALU workers who are blocking the port area.*AP

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