Today will mark the fifth time that President Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address, his penultimate Sona. Of particular interest is what he would say about the national state of our transportation. If this were a transport journey that our country took four years ago, it would be to our best interest to know where we are right now, what had been achieved and the plans for the remaining two years, notwithstanding the effect of the pandemic that caught all of us flat-footed.
We remember how it was, transportation wise, when this administration started. Transportation and traffic were key campaign concerns more than in other past elections. Several issues came to the fore—namely the horrendous traffic, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s laglag-bala, the motorized license plates backlog, and the daily breaking down of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). There was also the nagging perception of an administration with so many “unfinished” projects, in particular the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension, the North Avenue common terminal, and the many rail projects that did not move during those six years. Quite unfair as there were a lot of good significant transport projects that emanated from that time and in fact spilled over to this administration—the P2P buses, the integrated provincial bus terminals, the policies governing TNVS, among others. But such was the case and the commuting public saw “incompleteness” and was left wanting at the end of that term.
Enter the new Department of Transportation. Problems such as the laglag-bala, the MRT breakdown and the vehicle license plates were tackled head on. Projects inherited were either pushed to be finished or eliminated rather than hemorrhaging government funds. To date, more than a hundred seaports and airports projects have been built, upgraded or rehabilitated. Rail projects, notably MRT 7, the Luzon north and south corridors and the flagship subway project have broken ground. With land transportation, two over delayed but much needed projects the jeepney modernization under the Public Utility Modernization Program, and the Motor Vehicle Inspection System saw the light of day. To the credit of this government, the pandemic even became an opportunity to implement the needed policies that were hard to pursue in pre-Covid times. These changes would include the Edsa Bus loop; the accelerated push towards jeepney modernization; the banning of provincial buses in Metro Manila; and the building of bike lanes and more greenways and walkways in many areas. But all of these are just part of the transport factory that came to be under the watch of the Department of Transportation.
Despite all of these, there’s still so much work to be done. A growing population and a developing economy led to new transport problems that need to be addressed. Even during pre-Covid times, we already saw a tremendous growth in commuter demand, worsening vehicular traffic, lack of public transportation and worsening air pollution caused by the transport sector. To make matters worse, the Covid-19 pandemic created a whole new set of complications. Commercial viability of public transport became adversely affected, and timelines of ongoing infrastructure projects were delayed because of the lockdowns and fear of infections.
Two years is definitely not enough to complete these projects and adequately address the problems that have evolved. But two years is enough for this administration’s transport policy-makers to ensure that the projects embarked on will be finished even beyond their term. A seamless continuity of transport governance should start in these remaining two years. The current transport policy-makers this early can prepare for a governance transfer that will benefit the next national transport managers who can immediately slide into their roles, whoever they may be. This would ensure that these needed projects for the country will be realized. Continuity of the work that was started, and not the incompleteness of work committed, may well be the final defining legacy of this administration’s transport leadership.
Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He is an alumnus of the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu