Senator JV Ejercito stressed last week the importance of having a well-thought out mass transit system in the country, and batted for a railway solution to solve the gridlocked vehicle congestion, particularly the capital city of Metro Manila.
“Just my observation, parang naging priority kasi natin was how to move vehicles through infrastructure projects such as Skyways,” said the senator who chairs the economic affairs committee. “It is better now to concentrate how to move people through projects such as the PNR, North, and South rail projects.”
Ejercito participated in a transport forum organized by ADR Institute and Citizen Watch, to discuss recent calls for Congress to grant the incoming Duterte administration emergency powers to tackle the country public transport woes.
Prominent government and private sector think tanks attended the forum held in Makati City. Most shared Ejercito’s proposal to push for rail system solutions, but also pointed out that much work needs to be done to improve the efficiency of the country’s transport infrastructure.
The discussion centered on what the government, primarily the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), its attached agencies, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and LRT/MRT and Philippine National Railways (PNR) operators had accomplished under the present administration to enhance public transport, and what else needs to be done.
Move people, not vehicles
Ejercito said he is from the school of thought which believes moving people instead of building infra projects to move more vehicles, is the best idea.
He proposed plans to concentrate on the railway systems and on how to move people.
He said that one indicative sign of progress is when people take public transportation.
“An efficient and a modern railway system will not only solve our traffic congestion. It will spread out development, bring down the cost of living, bring down cost of transport of goods and therefore will be the backbone of our economy.”
Ejercito said the lack of a blueprint for Metro Manila is another reason why traffic problems persist.
“Kung maganda at tumatakbong maayos ang ating MRT, LRT at PNR, and tao ay hindi na kailangan bumili ng sasakyan,” he said. “Kahit isang libo pang Highway Patrol Group ang ilagay nila sa mga kalye, hangga’t hindi nailalatag ang mass transport system dagdag lang nang dagdag ang vehicles.”
Emergency powers
MRail president Ferdinand Inacay said, due to the country’s inefficient mass transport system, the public were forced to purchase cars, resulting in a huge volume of cars on our roads.
“A large segment of our society has big disposable income to purchase cars; and with a very competitive car industry market that offers attractive buying rate to get a new car, the public resorted to getting their own cars rather than take the train, hence we have so much cars in EDSA today,” Inacay said.
Inacay gave his take as well on the traffic mess in MM, and supported the granting of emergency powers for the duterte administration to solve the problem:
He proposed the following:
Persuade commuters to wait for their rides in designated areas.
“Swallow the bitter pill, and look at jeepneys—it is a prehistoric thing of the past….probably a tourist attraction, but not a solution to mass transit strategy—we’re not being anti poor, just being realistic.”
Rationalize bus and jeepney operations.
“Revisit the Public Private Partnership program’s terms of references. Look at these closely, and seek for reality checks within them.”
Lack of connectivity
Government authorities blamed the huge volume of cargo containers in major roads as a major cause of traffic congestion, but a representative of large shipyard operator thought otherwise.
“There are no cargo container trucks using EDSA to deliver goods from south to north so truck operators should not be blamed for the snail pace traffic condition,” Christian Gonzales of ICTSI, a multinational shipyard operator said.
Gonzales said they are now in the midst of completing a proposal to the government to allow them to legally use the existing PNR railways to efficiently move cargoes from their Laguna shipyard to the Manila Port using the Tutuban-Laguna PNR railways.
“The lack of connectivity to Manila ports is causing truck operators to lose a lot of money. It is no brainer that the solution is to establish a railway to deliver the goods by taking advantage of the existing PNR rail tracks,” he said.
“With traffic congestion going to get worse in Metro Manila, shippers/locators could opt to bypass Metro Manila by using the rail system to transport their goods while at the same time truckers can still provide their services when moving the goods from the inland container terminals to the end destination of the goods, or the other way around,” Gonzales suggested.
Gonzales agreed that Duterte’s proposal to improve the current state of the Philippines’ rail system is definitely a good jump point to address traffic congestion.
He said Duterte could take his initiatives on the rail system a step further by encouraging investments in the cargo rail system, too.
He expressed hope that incoming DOTC secretary Arthur Tugade would seriously review proposals that would restore the rail connectivity between the ports of Manila to an inland container terminal facility in Laguna.
MAP supports emergency power for Duterte
Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) chairman Eduardo Yap, called for emergency powers for President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to solve the MM traffic problem.
Yap explained that ongoing infrastructure projects to address the issue that would take years to complete. He gave the precedent of Congress giving President Fidel V. Ramos emergency powers to deal with the power crisis inherited from the first Aquino administration.
He called for the issuance of an executive order to declare that a transportation and traffic crisis exists in Metro Manila and, with the concurrence of Congress, secure emergency powers for the President to address the crisis.
“The government can then mobilize all government resources and undertaking necessary measures unhampered by appointments, procurement, budgetary and COA regulations during its presidency,” he said.
Free for all
Some forum participants suggested that studies on freight rail be integrated so that “infrastructural needs of the freight transport could be identified and proposed and not only focus as always to the needs of the passenger travel.”
It was also proposed that an upgrade of the PNR system, through public-private partnership (PPP), be undertaken as an important part of a long-term traffic management scheme, as the government through its PPP Center has long recognized that a PPP arrangement was the best way to speed up its rehabilitation.
Ejercito said that moving a larger volume of people on Metro Manila’s limited road network can be achieved by improving the country’s entire public transport system. “The different modes have to behave like a family member, complementing each other’s strengths rather than elbowing each other on the streets,” he said.