Lawmakers have expressed disgust over the failure of officials of the Department of Transportation led by Secretary Arthur Tugade to shed light on the Bus Rapid Transit project.
At a congressional hearing, Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation, said key DOTr officials should update Congress on the status of the ambitious project aimed at addressing traffic congestion in Metro Manila and Cebu.
“We need efficient mass transport system sooner rather than later. The BRT system will help a lot to solve the traffic problem, just like what happened in Bogota, Colombia which we had the chance to visit last month,” said Sarmiento.
But unfortunately, Sarmiento said DOTr Assistant Secretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark de Leon, who was supposed to explain the project to the lawmakers, was absent during the hearing.
“I do not see his shadow in the room. I don’t know if Asec Manuel Gonzales is in the position to give us accurate information about the BRT projects of the DOTR,” said Sarmiento. Gonzales was the DOTr representative during the hearing.
Sarmiento asked Gonzales about the whereabouts of De Leon as well as Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.
The committee nevertheless allowed Gonzales to give his presentation on the BRT 1 route, which spans 12.3 kilometers from Quezon Memorial Circle up to Manila City Hall. About 218 buses will pass through the 16 stations and a depot of the BRT 1 route.
Sarmiento said the BRT project is a very important issue because it aims to ease the traffic congestion and mobilize people in Metro Manila and Cebu.
He said the BRT system in Bogota was proposed by Mayor Enrique Penalosa in 2000 as a key element of his “mobility strategy.” The BRT system tagged as “TransMilenio” has 12 lines with a total of 112 kilometers running throughout the capital.
“It would take a great amount of political will to implement this needed project,” added Sarmiento.
According to Gonzales, the BRT 1 system with a budget of P4.8 billion is being funded by the World Bank.
Marikina City Rep. Bayani Fernando asked what the plans of the DOTr are on the jeepneys passing on the existing route.
“Ano ang balak nyo sa mga jeepneys serving that line because it may cause some problem. Hindi sila pwedeng ma-displace,” said Fernando.
But Gonzales did not directly answer Fernando’s query.
Rep. Romeo Acop of Antipolo City asked Gonzales, in his capacity, to answer all the queries of the panel. “For example, if I ask Asec Gonzales kung ano ang rationale kung bakit nag-decide ang gobyerno na we resort to this BRT project. Hindi po niya masasagot dahil hindi naman siya ang namamahala nito. So, maybe para maka-save tayo ng oras, we might as well skip this issue simply because we will just be wasting our time,” said Acop.
Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City said the committee would not be able to thoroughly and intelligently discuss all the subject matters in the agenda that would resolve the traffic in Metro Manila.
“Sila po ‘yung senior officials na merong decision-making powers. However, they absent themselves deliberately before this very important committee meeting,” said Castelo.
Castelo suggested to the committee to issue a subpoena because what is at stake are the millions of people suffering tremendously because of inefficiency, incompetence, and delay.
The committee should make a strong stand and require the presence of the DOTr officials to attend the next hearing, equipped with the necessary answers, otherwise it would be useless, not beneficial and progressive, and it would not be able to answer the needs of the people, Castelo said.
The committee scheduled in their agenda the status and timeline of the BRT project, fare hike, and issuance of new fare matrix, rationalization of terminals in Metro Manila and the design and construction of footbridges in Metro Manila.
