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Friday, March 29, 2024

The standoff

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"Can’t these government offices work together instead of bicker?"

 

 

It seems that the office of Senator Grace Poe and the office of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade are communicating through press releases which can give us an idea of the kind of relationship that exists between the two offices.

Reading the papers the last few days, we can only deduce that all must not be well between the two. The longer this continues, the longer Metro Manila traffic problem will fester. If the two principals refuse to talk, is it possible for the two to designate representatives so that things can at least move?

As far as I know, there is no effort on the part of the Department of Transportation or the Metro Manila Development Authority to draft a traffic plan for submission to the office of Senator Grace Poe as a basis for crafting a law that would grant President Duterte emergency powers. Senator Poe was quoted in a newspaper report as asking for a traffic master plan, but then proceeded to talk about transport projects and right-of-way acquisitions.

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I tried to call Senator Poe’s office to ask for some clarification and was referred to a press relation officer. When I asked him if he is the action man on traffic, he told me to just go ahead and ask the questions. But when I did, he abruptly told me that the office will call back—which, up to this writing, has not happened.

The same is true with the office of Chairman Danilo Lim of MMDA. I wanted to know why no traffic plan has been forwarded to Senator Poe’s office up to now and whether the reason is because no one is competent to make one or simply because MMDA and DOTr are just refusing to submit one. I also did not get to talk to MMDA Chairman Lim.

Thus, up to now, I do not have a definitive answer on why no plan has been submitted or why there appears to be very little communication between the office of Senator Grace Poe, DOTr, and MMDA.

The traffic problem is so huge that the three offices should be able to bury or forget whatever differences that exist between them for the sake of the suffering motoring public. It would be the height of pettiness indeed if the reason for the failure to communicate is so that the other would get blamed for the government inaction.

The grant of emergency powers is not a magic wand that will instantly solve the traffic problems overnight. Still, as I have written last week, if emergency powers are granted based on an agreed plan submitted by DOTr and MMDA, it will at set in motion a process in which coherent action can be started. Even if everything in the plan is not completed during this administration, the next government can continue with it.

What the public is waiting is for government to act based on a professionally crafted action plan.

What could be so wrong with these three offices getting together in order to set the parameters of a law that will be passed? It is what is expected and it is what should be done. But all three seem to be standing their ground, waiting perhaps for one to cave in.

Let us hope that this is not the case and that very soon, all three will come together to do what is best for the public.

* * *

One of the proposals to decongest EDSA is by Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, the chairman of Committee on Transportation of the House of Representatives. He should be commended for it.

The plan is a bit similar to the one proposed a few years ago but which was not implemented. The only difference is that the new proposal picked the operation to be in the leftmost lane, and not in the outer lanes. The intention of the new proposal seems to be to add to the capacity of MRT 3 which is now in the process of upgrading to add more trains in order to maximize ridership to 500,000 passengers a day instead of the current 300,000 plus daily.

This plan also seems to assume that EDSA has six effective lanes. But if one examines the road, it only has five lanes and only three lanes can be used continuously from north to south and vice versa. The two outer lanes crosses many roads like Shaw Blvd., Bonny Serrano, Kamuning and Cubao to name a few which is causing part of the congestion because vehicles queuing to cross these roads instead of sticking to two lanes are actually forming three lanes, causing the congestion. So, if the innermost lane is taken over by this carousel-type bus operation, only two effective lanes will be left. Three lanes will now be allocated for bus operations. Instead of reducing the number of buses on EDSA, more will be added.

This is not to shoot down the plan. At least a responsible government official has given some thought to solve part of the problem. Another proposed solution is by Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice to completely ban private vehicles along EDSA during the morning and evening rush hours. I do not know how best to describe this weird suggestion but it is a proposal borne out of desperation. It shows the complexity and difficulty of the problem.

The operative word that can best describe a solution is “bearable.” If at the end of the day, the government can make driving in the metro area more bearable than the way it is, then the government would have succeeded.

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