When the private sector moves for sustainable dev’t
Aside from writing this weekly column, I am also currently an advisor for an international organization on low…
The 15-minute city model revisited
I had written earlier about the 15-minute city model and how we, especially in Metro Manila, will need…
Time to take care of ourselves
One glaring revelation in this pandemic was our country’s overdependence on many things foreign. Foremost are the jobs…
The gentrification of our countryside
There is now a silent but steady move of Filipino urbanites, especially those residing in Metro Manila, to…
‘Lugaw’ and deliveries dissected
Going viral last week was the “lugaw” incident at a barangay checkpoint where one lady tanod official lectured…
The gentrification of our countryside
There is now a silent but steady move of Filipino urbanites, especially those residing in Metro Manila, to…
‘Lugaw’ and deliveries dissected
Going viral last week was the “lugaw” incident at a barangay checkpoint where one lady tanod official lectured…
Back to where we started, but still in the game
Today is the first day in Metro Manila and nearby areas that are placed back on hard lockdown…
Leadership and learning
ON to my leadership series as part of our continuous re-awakening moving into the 2022 elections. Today we…
Remembering a year of Covid-19
I first wrote about Covid-19 on January 26, 2020, approximately two months before the WHO declaration of a…
Evaluating our elected officials
Aside from my usual discourse on our urban and traffic woes, I will begin a series of articles…
Road safety is the LTO’s reason for being
Drowned out in all of the noise that erupted against the motor vehicle inspection program of the Land…
Philippines in 2022: Searching for the next captain of our ship
Approximately one year from now, the campaign to seek the next president of the Philippines will commence. It…
What is wrong with the Motor Vehicle Inspection System?
There is nothing wrong with the Motor Vehicle Inspection System or the MVIS. Technically and legally, or MVIS…
Driving growth and enriching human experience
Human history is all about travel, exploration and discovery, leading to much growth and the deepening of our…
A good start in our 2021 transport journey
If 2020 had a lot of wrong turns and abrupt missteps in our local transport universe, then it…
The Ram and the Tiger
The Ram and the Tiger. Two creatures of strength—signifying resolve and fortitude in the face of challenges and…
The MVIS program: Assurance of roadworthiness
This year will mark the re-implementation of the Motor Vehicle Inspection System or MVIS program of the Land…
Low hanging transport and traffic fruits in 2021
New Year would always have 12 kinds of fruits—the round varieties—on dining tables to signify thanksgiving for the…
Top 10 transport and travel news in the year of the pandemic
This can be the year that never was, with many disruptions, casualties and adjustments in our way of…
Public service, public convenience
Recent news headlines were about local transport problems that arose because of policies that were primarily put in…
Rethinking public spaces in Metro Manila
One realization that has emerged in this pandemic was the importance of public spaces in Metro Manila, such…
The Edsa Skywalk
EDSA remains to be the transport and traffic barometer in the country for the simple reason that it…
A tree for every vehicle program, and urban reforestation
Recently, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board issued Memorandum Circular 2020-06, requiring all public transport operator-applicants to…
The 15-minute city model coming soon to cities near you
I was invited last week to speak before a forum on the state of transport and mobility in…
Climate change and green transport: Now or never
Typhoon Ulysses created havoc as it breezed through our nation’s area of responsibility, unleashing destructive winds and floods…
How a Biden presidency will impact Philippine transport
America has a new president with former VP Joe Biden securing the necessary 270 electoral votes to win…
The ‘almost’ walking dead
Walking is the most basic form of mobility. It is the first and last mile that we take…
Enjoying the sound of silence in the city
In the early days of the pandemic lockdown, when authorities had everyone confined in their homes, a unique…
Sleeping with the enemy
What happened last week? In one fell swoop, the government relaxed a series of mobility restrictions. The move…
Batang Frisco
I am a bona fide “Batang Frisco.” I spent my childhood years in San Francisco Del Monte. I…
Issues on terminals and cashless transactions
AS Metro Manila is set to enter the “new normal,” with hopes of being placed soon under a…
The Manila Bay sand trap
IN the game of golf, landing your golf ball on a sand trap is a most unfortunate event.…
Smart nationally equals smart city
Unfortunate is the recent news on the ranking of Manila in the 2020 Global Smart City Index. Conducted…
An invitation for RSA to expand the PAREX dream
A welcome development is the recent pronouncement by San Miguel Corp. on their Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) project,…
A bubble that we don’t like to burst
WE have all heard about the so-called “bubbles” across the globe in this time of the pandemic. A…
The jeepney’s road to perdition
Passing through Katipunan Avenue near the UP campus, one would see a number of jeepney drivers huddled together,…
A year of ‘street talking’
Today would mark my one-year of writing “Street Talk” in this paper, the BusinessMirror. My sincerest thanks to…
Deliver us from Covid
A shared social-media post caught my attention, supposedly originating from a local TV personality who concluded that the…
Fixing the road at this time
Despite the tragedy that is the Covid-19 pandemic, many nations around the world have taken advantage of this…
The State of the Nation’s Transport Address (SONTA)
Today will mark the fifth time that President Duterte delivers his State of the Nation Address, his penultimate…
The travelers that we are
Last week, I wrote about the significance of the number of ships that are currently anchored off Manila…
The Philippines as a maritime power hub
Off the waters of Manila Bay are now parked several of the biggest cruise ships that ply the…
When the pandemic is gone II
IN our column last week, we provided a probable picture of how life will be in the post…
When the pandemic is gone
IT has been more than a hundred days since the Luzon-wide lockdown was first implemented. Still, from all…
Watch your back
Just over the weekend, the government gave indications that they would be considering allowing motorcycle back riding sometime…
Life in the bike lane
The move to create bike lanes by the government is laudable, given that a lot of us have…
Is this the end of the jeepneys?
Never before in our history has public transportation been adversely affected. The fear of infections has led to…
Turning parking lots into parks
WE all hear about the resurgence of open spaces in the light of the need for social distancing…
Virus-proofing cities of the future
All over the world, countries are in the process of rethinking their urban landscapes as a result of…
A chance for rebirth
I had written about this several times since the pandemic started—that despite this tragedy, the situation offers the…
Rethinking cities in pandemic times
We keep lamenting about the wrong direction we were taking in designing our cities for so long. Traffic…
Why integrated bus terminals make more sense in the post-pandemic world
The establishment of central provincial bus terminals outside, but within the proximity, of Metro Manila to bring commuters…
‘Pivot or perish’
Much has been said about putting emphasis on the resumption of businesses once the lockdown loosens. This would…
Pushing low carbon transport in the new normal
WE are all talking about the new normal, referring to the life we will face once the pandemic…
The invisible war
I’m spending the new normal on Easter Sunday morning, reflecting on what’s happening to all of us while…
Businesses and jobs in the post-Covid world
WE are now on our fourth week of lockdown and there are mixed feelings among us whether this…
Resiliency in these uncertain times
One thing certain in these uncertain times is that for us to survive this plague that brought the…
Transport in a post-Covid scenario
So, we now find ourselves in a lockdown—finally. This is exactly what we need to basically flatten the…
Limiting city travel with COVID-19 at our doorsteps
March 7, 2020 marks the day when the thing we all dreaded would happen, happened. President Duterte declared…
‘Usapang kalye’
During my weekly program, “Usapang Kalye” with Ms. Tina Marasigan on DZMM, there were several items that were…
Tricycles in our minds
IN every barangay in the Philippines you would find the tricycles as the regular mode of transport—not the…
A behavioral approach to traffic
I have always espoused the notion that government alone cannot resolve this problem of traffic. The government may…
Bringing our esteros back to life
Manila, not Bangkok in Thailand nor the village of Zhujiajiao in China, was in the past called the…
Transport amid the novel coronavirus outbreak
IN my previous column, I discussed about the threat of the novel coronavirus to the global economy and…
Confronting the novel coronavirus
Currently threatening the entire global community is a mutated pathogen—the novel coronavirus or the 2019-nCoV, which traces its…
Volunteers against traffic
One noble Filipino characteristic that sprouted out of the eruption of Taal Volcano was the spirit of volunteerism.…
Fireworks in January
Entering the new year were several news items of note on traffic and transport, reminding us once more…
Missing the trees when looking at the forest
Among the viral posts I received at the start of the year was an article with a self-explanatory…
Looking back at this decade’s road trip
The new decade is about to begin, and we look back with gratitude that we have reached this…
A merry traffic Christmas!!
Allow me to greet everyone a traffic-filled but always will be, a merry Christmas! And before we forget—let…
A vote for provincial bus terminals outside Edsa
Out of more than 14,000 buses plying the roads of Metro Manila, about half of these are interregional…
A walkable Metro Manila
Equal to the lack of an adequate and convenient public transport that we are trying to address with…
On our way to bus modernization
While everyone’s focus has been on jeepney modernization—understandable because of its importance and significance, another mode of transport…
A second look at cable cars
During the early days of the Duterte administration, one of the initial pronouncements of then-newly appointed Secretary Arthur…
Attacking not just traffic but pollution as well
Sometime last year, we were pleasantly informed of an international report that cited 11 of our cities as…
China’s electric avenue
Just like any other Asian metropolis, the city roads of Shanghai, China, are filled with a lot of…
Baguio in our hearts
Most of us have this certain nostalgic recollection of what Baguio City was in our childhood days. Clean,…
Pasig River–The missing transport link
One traffic buster and transport solution that is already in our midst, and that millions of us Metro…
A multidimensional approach to solving traffic
I was in a conversation with my son, Gio, the other night and he brought up the idea…
Edsa is not hopeless
‘EDSA traffic is hopeless.” We have heard this so many times and we begin to believe, seeing how…
The tyranny of numbers
IN his book, The Tyranny of Metrics, US historian and sociologist Jerry Muller talks about the dangers of…
I-ACT: I will ACT
IT was around this time some three years ago, when the Inter- Agency Council for Traffic or I-ACT…
Government first
Much has been said lately about the private sector being part of the solution to the traffic problem.…
So where will I park?
The present drive to clear Metro Manila roads to decongest traffic is very much understandable given that we…
Smart cities, smart country
There is something good brewing among LGUs nationwide outside Metro Manila. Forward thinking heads of cities and provinces…
Air quality is quality of life
I came across an article a few months ago praising several of our cities in the Philippines having…