"Here are some proposals."
"Here are some proposals."
While school has yet to open and public transportation still has to receive the go-signal for a full-blown operation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Surigao del Sur Congressman Butch Pichay and feisty lawyer Larry Gadon have come up with proposals on how schools and transportation can operate under the new normal.
In the special edition of Kape at Kwentuhan hosted by veteran radio commentator Ed Sarto, Pichay and Gadon discussed their perspective on schools and transportation, two sectors mostly affected by the pandemic.
While Pichay doesn’t agree with K-12 program saying he cannot see any logical reason for its implementation (all graduates of the former K-10 program including government officials, lawmakers and Supreme Court Justices have fared well under the old setting, he says) he is 100 percent against school reopening and is willing to suspend classes for one year or until a vaccine has been developed for the novel coronavirus.
“The children are most vulnerable. So no vaccine, no classes,” says Pichay.
But as Gadon is silent on whether school should open despite the absence of any vaccine, he is pushing for a four-day school week to lessen the students’ exposure outside and possible infection, and at the same time lessen the load for transportation needs.
According to Gadon, during his time as student, classes held on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays last one hour per subject while those held on Tuesday and Thursdays last one and one-half hour each.
Hence, he is suggesting that all classes be held at one and one-half hour each subject and that schools hold their classes alternately but only for four days. In that way, Gadon says hundreds of thousands of students could be taken off the streets, easing traffic flow in the metropolis.
Pichay readily agrees with Gadon saying the proposal, if implemented, could reduce expenses for both parents and the schools.
For those working, Gadon is suggesting the Metro Manila be divided into four sectors with each sector starting its working hours at least thirty minutes apart from each other.
“Maybe, the South Sector could start at 8:00 in the morning, the West start at 8:30, the North at 9:00 and the East at 9:30,” Gadon says.
While the differential is only 30 minutes each, Gadon says it could mean a lot to solving the traffic situation as it could prevent employees and workers from both public and private sectors from crowding the streets at same time.
And this doesn’t even need the creation of another office to implement.
To complement Gadon’s suggestion, Pichay is pushing for a nine-hour work day but reducing the working days to four days a weeks.
Honestly, I believe both Gadon’s and Pichay’s proposals to be feasible. Just hoping those who are in charge see the wisdom in their suggestions.
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While we’re on the issue of transportation, Gadon came up smoking again yesterday. This time against Senator Risa Hontiveros who had earlier accused the Department of Transportation of being anti-poor.
In a statement released to the media the other day, Hontiveros accused the DOTr of being anti-poor for continuously refusing to allow public buses and jeeps to ply their routes. Hontiveros even said the DOTr wasted the two months the country was in quarantine to prepare a guidelines and plans for the public transportation as the country transitions to the new normal.
“Senator Hontiveros is lying. There is already an existing guidelines and it was even presented to the Senate during its hearing,” Gadon avers.
The guidelines, according to Gadon, had already been published in the official DOTr website and aired and printed in different media outlets.
However, the lawmaker said that transportation could not be given the green light for a full operation as restoring public transportation operation is based on the assessment per area.
But so far, Gadon said the DOTr and and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board have already opened up bus routes, as follow:
Route 8 (Cubao-Montalban); Route 24 (PITX-Alabang); Route 25 (BGC-Alabang); Portion of Route E (EDSA Carousel) to augment MRT-3/partial operational; Route 1 (Monumento-Balagtas); Route 3 (Monumento-Valenzuela Gateway Complex); Route 5 (Quezon Avenue-Angat); Route 7 (Quezon Avenue-Montalban); Route 9 (Cubao-Antipolo) to augment LRT-2; Route 11 (Gilmore-Taytay); Route 13 (Buendia-BGC); Route 17 (Monumento-EDSA Taft) to augment LRT-1; Route 18 (PITX-NAIA Loop); Route 21 (Monumento-San Jose Del Monte); and Route 28 (PITX-Dasmariñas).
Gadon says the staggered reopening of routes is based on the directive of Inter-Agency and the DOTr as the country transitions from the ECQ to GCQ.
I could understand Senator Hontiveros’ concern for the drivers of jeepneys and buses and commuters affected. But if the guidelines had already been presented before them and if she had been made fully aware of what will transpire once the ECQ is lifted, she has no reason to rant against the DOTr.
Except, maybe, if she wants to gain some publicity considering 2022 is only about two years away.