BEFORE 2016 ended, members of the Aliw Media Group, which include the BusinessMirror, Pilipino Mirror, Philippines Graphic magazine, dwIZ and CNN, were given a treat of sorts when Transportation Assistant Secretary Cherie Mercado-Santos and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager Thomas M. Orbos dropped by the group’s offices in Makati City to answer questions on what is, perhaps, the hottest issue that affects everyone in the National Capital Region nowadays: Traffic.
Mercado-Santos, who represented Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, was the first to arrive at the office, followed by Orbos, who sheepishly admitted that he was stuck in the perennial traffic jam made worse by the holiday shopping rush.
Mercado-Santos answered queries about the agency’s pending request to Congress to grant President Duterte emergency powers. She emphasized the severity of the problem, which taken on crisis proportions.
This scribe asked her if the agency would accept a watered-down version of their proposal, which is facing rough sailing in the lower house. Mercado-Santos replied that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) will abide by whatever version the Legislative body will pass, but they’re hoping that there will minimal changes to their proposal. She discussed the upcoming project of the DOTr, which ultimately aims to reduce the number of vehicles on the road through a phaseout of old public-utility vehicles, like buses, jeepneys and taxis. She also pointed out the point-to-point (P2P) bus-transport system recently launched by the DOTr, which was launched under the Duterte administration.
The P2P transport is a bus service that ferries passengers from terminals in SM North in Quezon City, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City and Glorietta in Makati City. Passengers can only disembark at the terminals as opposed to regular buses, which ply Edsa and stop DOTr, MMDADOTr, MMDADOTr, MMDfor passengers at will, resulting in longer travel time.
Mercado-Santos also answered queries on the upcoming development of Sangley Point (a former US naval base), which has already started. The Sangley Point project in Cavite aims to decongest the air traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals in Pasay City.
At the forum, dubbed as the BusinessMirror Coffee Club, Orbos received the lion’s share of the questions that concerned his agency’s current project relating to traffic. He admitted that the number-coding system, which prohibits vehicles from plying most major thoroughfares in Metro Manila based on the last number on their license plates, is now obsolete.
“Most car owners just buy second or even third cars to get around it [the number-coding system]. The removal of the window period is just a stopgap measure until a new traffic scheme is implemented,” he added.
Orbos added that the MMDA and the DOTr have consulted with their counterparts in Singapore and Hong Kong on how the two countries licked their traffic woes. Of the two countries that he mentioned, he pointed to Singapore as “role model”, due to similarities between our countries. He shared the fact that, according to his Singaporean counterpart that they, too, had the same problem, which took them three years to solve. Another option that they’re studying is Singapore’s measure of charging motorists for using their vehicles during a certain time of the day.
He shared that they are currently rehabilitating the Pasig Ferry River Transport and the Philippine National Railways, which will serve as alternative modes of transportation for the people.
In the meantime, Orbos warned motorists that the MMDA’s ongoing clearing operations on secondary roads will continue, and that they will file charges against local officials who are not doing anything about the problem.
Image credits: Patrick Tulfo