CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Regional Trial Court (RTC) here has denied a motion filed by a private port operator seeking to prevent the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) from allowing cargo vessels to dock at a privately owned facility in Talisay City.
In an order issued on September 25, RTC Judge Leath Geraldez rejected the prayer for injunctive relief filed by the Oriental Port & Allied Services Corporation (OPASCOR), ruling that the company failed to prove a clear legal right warranting court protection.
OPASCOR had petitioned the court to stop the CPA and its General Manager, Francisco Comendador III, from granting docking, berthing, or unloading permits to the Cebu South Harbor and Container Corporation (CSHCTC) “absent any showing of emergency, necessity, or congestion at the government’s port,” referring to the Cebu International Port (CIP).
The complainant also asked the tribunal to enjoin CSHCTC from “accepting, accommodating, berthing, docking, unloading, and/or handling foreign vessels and/or foreign cargoes at its private port and operating as a general cargo port, absent a written order from CPA….”
The lawsuit was initiated after the CPA authorized CSHCTC to receive foreign vessels. OPASCOR claimed the authorization violated Administrative Order No. 02-2010 restrictions on private commercial port operations, along with the terms of CSHCTC’s operating permit as a cargo handler.
However, the RTC found that OPASCOR failed to establish a clear and unmistakable right to justify an injunction. The court noted that there was no urgency to the claim, highlighting that OPASCOR waited over a year after making a formal demand before taking legal action.
The court further observed that while shipping firm Maersk Filipinas, Inc. transferred its foreign cargo operations to CSHCTC in July 2024, OPASCOR waited over two years to request injunctive relief, “which belies its claim of urgency.”
The judge also stated that the petitioner failed to show that it would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction.
“OPASCOR likewise failed to establish irreparable damage. Damages are irreparable within the meaning of the rule relative to the issuance of injunction where there is no standard by which their amount can be measured with reasonable accuracy,” the court noted.
Concluding the ruling, the court formally dismissed the petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
“Wherefore, premises considered, OPASCOR’s application for the issuance of temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the court ruled.