These are really cogent reasons to thoroughly study the problem of traffic congestion and the need for an enhanced mass transport system
Coming as it does after the totally unexpected recent agreement between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front to get the peace negotiations going again after an interregnum of nearly seven years, the decision of the CPP-NPA-NDF to declare a unilateral ceasefire for two days was just as totally unexpected, but a welcome one nonetheless.
The NPA ceasefire on Christmas Day and Dec 26, the date of the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968, was surprising because while it welcomed the earlier agreement to talk peace once again, it has not been receptive to the idea of a bilateral ceasefire during political negotiations.
What is surprising as well is the announcement of the military that they are not declaring a ceasefire during the Christmas season, even if they were the first to declare agreement with the earlier joint declaration on the restart of peace talks.
In so far as confidence-building measures go, it is the CPP-NPA-NDF triumvirate that gains a point, while the AFP does not.
But that’s probably neither here nor there by the start of the new year, when the two sides are expected to take concrete moves to bring their initial agreement to talk to end the 54-year-old insurgency at the negotiation table instead of in the battlefield.
And there’s the rub.
Without a bilateral ceasefire in place during the peace talks, there’s always the real danger that negotiations will get nowhere particularly if, say, one side prevails in the battlefield and the other suffers heavy losses.
Or the military arrests, detains and files criminal charges against rebel leaders with bounties on their heads.
When any of those things happen, either side would question the good faith and sincerity of the other in pursuing peace and simply walk away.
I distinctly recall that a round of talks that were supposed to start in Brussels in 1995 collapsed even before it had actually begun after the killing by the military of the top leader of the CPP in Bicol.
Be that as it may, I really hope the peace talks will move forward by early January with further exploratory talks.
But I have misgivings about the four or five preconditions imposed by the NDF for the talks to take place, such as the release of those they call ‘peace consultants’ and about 800 political prisoners in various jails throughout the country.
For its part, the government insists the talks should not be called a resumption or restart of stalled peace talks since 1987, but a ‘new beginning.’
If the latter means disregarding previous agreements between the two sides over the course of three decades, is that an indication the government wants to dictate the tempo and terms of negotiations and thereby gain the upper hand and perhaps the moral high ground?
Worsening Metro traffic
Up for deliberation in the Senate is Resolution 859 proposed by Majority Leader Joel Villanueva seeking to conduct an inquiry into government plans to solve what he described as the “worsening” traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other highly-urbanized cities.
“There is a need to review the policies and revisit the programs and plans of the Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government and other relevant agencies on ameliorating heavy traffic conditions in the Philippines [that have] significant personal, social, environmental, and economic impacts,” the resolution said in part.
The proposed resolution pointed out a study made in 2022 showed that Manila ranked ninth out of 390 cities and first in Southeast Asian cities when it comes to traffic congestion.
The research also revealed it took an average of 27 minutes to travel 10 kilometers in 2022 with commuters spending 100 hours in traffic out of 241 driving hours yearly.
Another study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency also said the Philippines is losing billions of pesos with estimated daily loss due to traffic in Metro Manila at P2.4 billion in 2014, P3.5 billion in 2018, and P4.9 billion in 2023.
JICA projected that the economic costs will increase to P6 billion per day by 2030.
For its part, MMDA warned last year of a 10 to 20 percent increase in traffic volume or about 417,000 to 430,000 vehicles passing through EDSA, a major thoroughfare in Metro Manila, particularly during the Christmas season.
These are really cogent reasons to thoroughly study the problem of traffic congestion and the need for an enhanced mass transport system.
But we must ask: Is the Senate the proper forum to do this?
Why not convene a panel of eminent local and international experts on mass transportation rather than politicians?
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