It appears that Congress is really keen on investing President Rodrigo Duterte, through the Secretary of Transportation, with emergency powers to address the chronic traffic problem plaguing Metropolitan Manila, as well as the urban centers of Cebu and Davao. So far, the House of Representatives has approved its version of a limited grant of “emergency powers” to the transport secretary as “traffic chief” of the three metropolitan areas.
The “emergency powers” include the authority to modify or abrogate existing concessions, permits, and contracts; to streamline all existing government agencies involved in road and traffic management; and to revise or modify existing traffic regulations and policies.
From the way the House measure is structured, it looks like the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority under ex-soldier Danilo Lim will have to take its marching orders from the “traffic chief.” More specifically, the MMDA head will have to obey the directives of a higher authority.
So far, putting the MMDA under a higher authority seems to be a good idea, particularly because the ex-MMDA acting chief, Tim Orbos, did a terrible job as the traffic manager of the national capital region. Under the Orbos watch, practical solutions to exiting traffic problems were ignored, and stupid, restrictive regulations were set in place.
Of course, the House measure is not yet a legislative act because it needs a counterpart from the Senate, as well as the ultimate approval of President Duterte—an approval that is inevitable because the president had asked Congress for those “emergency powers” early on. This means that while the House measure is not yet a law, the MMDA management under Lim can still undo the baneful effects of the mismanagement by his predecessor.
For starters, Lim should replace those orange road cones and red “toblerone” barriers all over the major roadways of Metropolitan Manila with reflectorized road markers. Those cones and barriers which Orbos scattered all over the metropolis are road hazards. Because they are not reflectorized, they become invisible but deadly structures at night or during inclement weather.
Why Orbos left them there is a mystery. Perhaps it’s due to his administrative ineptitude.
Those deadly cones and barriers can be seen around the Quezon Elliptical Road, particularly between Quezon Avenue and East Avenue. They can also be found at the East Avenue approach to Edsa; along the southbound lane of Edsa across Nepa-Q-Mart; and near the Philcoa area on the way to Fairview.
Why Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista even tolerates those road hazards is also a mystery. Perhaps Bautista is too occupied destroying the existing sidewalks along Tomas Morato Avenue and replacing them with substandard ceramic tiles bearing his initials—all at the expense of Quezon City taxpayers.
Be that as it may, those cones and barriers are deadly enough for drivers in Metropolitan Manila. Imagine the risk they pose to motorists who are visiting the national capital region and are not familiar with the existence or location of those deadly structures.
Next in the criticism list are reckless motorcycle drivers. They use and shift road lanes indiscriminately, especially on Edsa. There was a brief period when the MMDA, under Tagaytay politician Francis Tolentino, created a motorcycle lane along the entire stretches of Edsa and Commonwealth Avenues. Motorcycle drivers were strictly required to stay on those lanes. After Tolentino milked the measure of all the political publicity he could get out of it, the motorcycle lanes were discontinued.
Many motorcycle drivers create their own counterflow in almost any intersection where cars are at a halt, albeit temporarily. Because they are too impatient to wait for their turn, they eat up a substantial part of the opposite lane. Many of them actually think they are exempted from obeying traffic lights. At intersections, these inconsiderate road idiots move to the front of the line and block the pedestrian lanes.
Something should be done about these two-wheeled road devils. Tolentino ultimately ignored them, and Orbos was too hollow-minded to regulate them. Hopefully, Lim can do something this time.
During the daylight hours, traffic on the northbound lane of Edsa from the Corinthian Village area all the way to Camp Aguinaldo is always at a snail’s pace because of the accumulation of automobiles entering the narrow passage separating both halves of the Edsa-Santolan Road flyover. That accumulation of vehicles needlessly blocks the smooth flow of traffic towards the north. Maybe Lim will realize that those left-turning vehicles bound for Santolan Road should enter Santolan Road from the rightmost lane of Edsa, instead of the innermost lane, which is the highway’s fastlane in the first place.
The House measure on “emergency powers” also authorizes the traffic chief to “identify” certain roads inside private villages as ‘friendship lanes” for use by motorists. That sounds like a euphemism for legislated authority to open up private roads for public use to reduce the traffic problem blighting the metropolis.
Although private village associations may be expected to oppose and even resist this “friendship lanes” imposition, Congress is well within its power to legislate measures authorizing traffic officials to open up those roads. That’s called the police power of the state, and it is defined as the inherent power of the state to impose limitations on the enjoyment of property rights for the public welfare. That definition appears broad enough to justify the planned move to open up, at the very least, “strategic” village roads.
So far, certain private villages with strategic roads are readily identifiable. San Lorenzo and Bel-Air in Makati can ease up the mess in the area. The villages in Parañaque and Muntinlupa will have to be considered as well. Opening some roads in Wack-Wack and Greenhills East in Mandaluyong can reduce choke points along Edsa, Shaw Boulevard and Ortigas Avenue. The same is true for the Valle Verde villages, Capitol 8, and San Antonio in Pasig; the Greenhills villages in San Juan; and Corinthian and White Plains in Quezon City.