One of the most eagerly anticipated programs of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte once he sits in Malacañang is solving the conundrum that is Metro Manila traffic. Incoming transportation secretary Arthur Tugade will be at the helm of this seemingly Sisyphean task, and the Duterte administration has been keen on getting emergency powers for a maximum of two years to do the job.
This talk of emergency powers should warrant traffic as a crisis—but a crisis, strictly speaking, is an extraordinary and short-term event with widespread and severe consequences. So how can the Duterte administration give merit to Metro Manila traffic as a crisis? We’ve had it for years now, and it is definitely getting worse. It has become an issue rather than a crisis, terrifyingly ordinary and long term, with consequences spreading wider and getting more severe.
What is extraordinary and short-term though is the transition period between the two administrations. The crisis is in how the BS Aquino administration’s faltering efforts to undo the traffic problem it brought to itself is coming to a head. We are expecting to see a crisis right when the new administration steps into the shoes of PNoy’s DOTC men, and realize the shoes were more cramped and decrepit than expected, and could fall apart anytime. There is a crisis, and DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya has been denying it for a long time.
And it is as if we have not seen limited emergency powers at play before to solve a problem that is immediate and pervasive. Former President Fidel V. Ramos used emergency powers to deliver swift solutions for the power crisis in the 90s, and the energy situation ever since has seen improvement. Although our countrymen could definitely benefit from lower electricity rates, who is to say that we are better off without FVR’s decisive action? Of course we cannot, but he did what had to be done, and we can only imagine how long the country would have suffered the prolonged darkness without the emergency powers and the Epira.
If one could fault FVR for his actions, then let Digong learn from them. As both administrations coming off from two separate Aquino regimes, there’s bound to be similarities. He could learn how to be better in solving a problem of relatively smaller scale and making the solution more sustainable, as the repercussions of such solutions are far-reaching in terms of trade and commerce. Solving the Metro Manila traffic quandary should set an example for the rest of Philippine metropolises. Let the Duterte administration make its project from Metro Manila mass transportation and public works a model for the development of Baguio City, Cebu City, and even Digong’s hometown of Davao City.
As far as Congress is concerned, we are ready to back the Duterte administration’s plans and ensure that the steps to be taken are legally sound and have the imprimatur of both individual and collective voices. Members of both chambers have filed numerous legislative measures to solve the transportation situation, and these proposals can certainly come into play once the proposal to grant Digong emergency powers is deliberated by the legislative branch. The House of Representatives, whose membership protect the interests of Filipinos from every corner of the country, should seriously consider the potential of such an undertaking for nationwide development of transportation systems and public works.
