I. INTRODUCTION

A number of government agencies are involved in port planning, regulation and operations. In the past, each of these agencies maintains its own list of ports, which sometimes overlaps with other agency listings. Moreover, agencies depending on their mandates would differ in the classification of ports.

To address the abovementioned issues, a Technical Working Group on Ports Inventory Statistics under the Inter-Agency Committee on Transportation and Communication Statistics was created. The TWG on Ports Inventory Statistics was composed of the then Ministry of Public Works & Highways (MPWH), Ministry of Transportation & Communications (MOTC), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), Bureau of Customs (BC), National Census & Statistics Office (NCSO) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). A comparative tabulation of ports regulated and maintained by the member agencies was established. This was not validated, however, due to the on-going government reorganization during that period.

Cognizant of the existing issues on the sector, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) created the Task Force on Ports Inventory Statistics (TFPIS) under NSCB Memorandum Order No. 1, Series of 1992, with the following specific objectives:

1. To study the listings of ports of concerned government agencies and determine discrepancies and duplications;
2. To reconcile the concepts used by these agencies and come up with a standard classification of ports for adoption by all agencies concerned; and
3. To recommend the appropriate organizational arrangements and scheme for the generation of a uniform set of ports data.

The Task Force is composed of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH), the Department of Transportation and Communications-Project Management Office for Ports Project (DOTC-PMO-Ports), the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), the National Statistics Office (NSO), and the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

II. CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

The Inventory covers all ports catering to water-borne commerce. A port is defined as a place where ships may anchor or tie up for the purpose of shelter, repair, loading or discharge of cargo, or for other such activities connected with water-borne commerce, and including all the land and water areas and the structures, equipment and facilities related to these functions. The Inventory is prepared by region, and by province. The ports in a particular province are enumerated alphabetically with the location, classification and status cited.

a. Location - the municipality where the port is situated. If the barangay location is known, the name of the barangay is cited and enclosed in parenthesis. However, there are cases when the name of the barangay cited is incomplete. For example, in the municipality of Isabela, province of Basilan, there are three barangays of almost similar names, namely Kaumpurnah 1, Kaumpurnah 2 and Kaumpurnah 3. Based on the validation conducted, only Kaumpurnah was mentioned, without specifying the exact location. In this case, the barangay name Kaumpurnah, although not the exact location, is still reflected and enclosed in parenthesis.

b. Classification - Prior to the inventory, the various agencies concerned adopted their own schemes of classification. For instance, the PPA classified its ports into: base ports, terminal ports, and other government ports. The PFDA, on the other hand, adopted the following categories: municipal fishing, commercial fishing, and multipurpose fishing.

For purposes of the inventory and for consistency in classification, ports were classified according to general purpose, regardless of the agency-in-charge. The following categories were adopted:

1. Commercial Private - ports which are owned and operated by private entities, constructed primarily to serve the needs of the owners.

2. Commercial Public - ports which are owned and operated by the government, constructed primarily to serve the needs of the general public, and which generally cater to vessels of more than 30 tonnage.

3. Fishing - ports which are owned and operated by the government or private entities, constructed primarily to serve the fishing industry, either within the area, or may be regional in scope, serving as the main collection and distribution center for fish.

4. Feeder - ports which are owned and operated by the government, constructed primarily to provide linkages among neighboring small islands and nearby urban centers. This port generally caters to small passenger and fishing boats.

It is possible that two ports may be located in the same area, even have similar names, but are classified differently. For instance, a port mainly used for fishing may exist side by side with a commercial public port administered by the PPA. In such case, the two ports are listed but classified differently in the inventory. On the other hand, a commercial public port which is also used for fishing purposes, is listed only once in the inventory as a commercial public port. A feeder port which is also used for fishing purposes is classified as a fishing port.

c. Status - ports are classified as to whether operational or non-operational. Operational ports are those which are still being used. Non-operational ports are ports which although existing are not utilized.

III. METHODOLOGY

The Task Force gathered all existing individual listings (as of 1991) of ports by concerned agencies, i.e., DPWH, PFDA, PPA, DOTC-PMO-Ports and BC. Using Dbase III, these individual lists were consolidated, and then disaggregated by region and by province. Regional listings were then sent to the corresponding Regional Offices of the DPWH for validation. Assistance of the NSCB Regional Units in the various regions, i.e., Regions I, V, VI, VIII, IX and XII, was sought in the follow-up of the validated sheets. Updated lists of the various agencies as of 1994 were also used in further validating and updating the consolidated list. The TF also relied on actual knowledge of the place by the TF members during the validation stage.

Succeeding updates on the 1994 Inventory of Ports (1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999) which contain additional ports only during the year were prepared thru the submissions made by member agencies of TFPIS. These annual updates were consolidated to come up with an initial master list of ports as of 1999.

The initial master list include additional ports from 1995 to 1999 aside from those identified iin the 1994 Inventory of Ports. Validation was afterwards carried out with respect to location, classification and status of all ports to come up with 2000 Quinquennial Inventory of Ports. The existence, classification and status of each port was verified through ocular inspections made by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Non existent ports were identified and deleted from the master list and the actual condition or status of the ports were reflected as to whether operational and non-operational. The results of the ocular inspections were also further discussed and matched with the central office list and later approved by the members of the Task Force in its meeting on July 19, 2000.