The Healthy Living Index 2016 rated the Philippines among the least healthy in Asia. Filipinos were found to be among the most sleep deprived in the region and do an average of only 2.1 hours of exercise a week, far below the regional average of three hours.
Ariel G. Cantos, CEO of Philam Life—who commissioned the survey—said that, while Filipinos generally know that they lead unhealthy lives, this awareness has not translated to action.
The survey did not look into the root causes of why Filipinos live so unhealthily. But when Filipinos spend anywhere from 46 to 81 minutes on average per commute from their homes to their workplaces, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to identify the metropolis’ monster traffic as the culprit. Urban Filipinos simply have no opportunity to breathe fresh air, spend quality time with family and lead ordinary lives, like normal people.
Various studies have shown how horrible traffic jams inflict negative effects on a person’s health. And with Japan International Cooperation Agency estimating that the productivity losses are already in the billions, there appear compelling arguments for granting the President emergency powers to solve the traffic crisis.
Several bills have already been filed in Congress, giving the President emergency authority, among other things, to adopt alternative procurement methods, expedite bidding and construction, and control traffic management, aimed at breaking up the traffic gridlock in Metro Manila and other urban areas.
The urban traffic horror is indeed of crisis proportion. It demands swift and strong action. But while activating the President’s emergency powers should be reserved for extraordinary occasions—grave calamities or civil disturbances that threaten the state security, for example—unjamming the current traffic mess is readily doable through existing institutions.
Mayors, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), for instance, should sit down and discuss a smart-traffic management plan in Metro Manila. They should agree to give the Metro Manila governor full powers to prepare traffic routing and formulate other policies on traffic decongestion. The PNP should follow this traffic plan, while the DPWH should coordinate with him all urban works construction.
Such arrangement will only be an experiment, temporary and time-bound. If successful, it will prove that our traffic problem is primarily an issue of leadership and management capability—hence, solvable by people who created it in the first place.
If it fails, it will prove that the problem is structural and expose the lack of long-term planning and coordination. That’s the time the President and Congress should come in and intervene—to formulate, by law or executive order, the needed edict. And put the fear of President Duterte in their hearts!
Either way, a facelift of our urban landscapes is welcome and, with it, should come more pedestrian-friendly, walkable pavements to promote healthier living.
Solving our traffic woes in a speedy manner is imperative. In the long run, we need to plan now on building up our urban environments, so that they will foster healthier lifestyles and a healthy population. But if need be—if politicians and bureaucrats remain obdurate—let’s grant the President emergency powers.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.