MNLKID analyzes Duterte's 1st year: 3rd of 3 parts
August 06, 2017
Traffic Elimination:
3rd and last of the 3-part Analysis on President Duterte's first year in office
On December 2016, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced that jeepneys operating for 15 years and above will be subjected to a phase-out. According to LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra, the modernization of these jeepneys will help solve the traffic.
These vehicles have been travelling for decades now and are undeniably, part of Filipinos' culture and identity.
That is why on February 6, 2017, a jeepney strike was conducted by jeepney drivers and operators to show their protest on the government's decision to phase out the vehicles. This strike was followed by another series of protests last February 27, May 23, June 5, and July 24.
The same bill granting Duterte emergency powers is the same bill which mandates the replacement of old jeepneys.
According to Piston, 600,000 drivers and 200,000 operators will be affected by the program. As of today, the bill is under the deliberation of the Congress and more strikes are expected to be conducted by jeepney operators and drivers.
Build. Build. Build. To Worsen Traffic?
Even before he assumed office, President Duterte has been very vocal on his aspiration to solve the country's problem on traffic. Along with it, he also mentioned the so-called "Build. Build. Build." which will focus on infrastructure-building to boost the country's growth.
This is also known as TRIP (Three-year Rolling Infrastructure Program) that will cost P8 to 9 trillion from 2018-2020.
TRIP may be a good indication of our nation's continuous growth, but budget secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed his doubt that this may even cause heavier traffic. According to Sec. Diokno, during the simultaneous construction of these infrastructures, Filipinos should brace for heavier traffic.
But Diokno assured that the traffic will be experienced only for a few years as the constructions would bring better transport system.
Digong's New Moves
After all his aspirations and acts to lessen the problem in traffic, president Duterte still managed to propose a new solution—the subway. According to Department of Transportation, the subway will be connecting Metro Manila's Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 & 2 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3.
The subway will be an alternative for cars, and will include subterranean railways.
The project will be using a tunnel-boring machine to avoid causing too much inconvenience in the cities. Under transportation undersecretary Noel Kantanar, Line 4 will stretch along eastern Metro Manila and Line 5 will be a subway through Pasay, Makati, and Taguig.
Line 6 will stretch along Dasmariñas, Cavite and Line 7 from Commonwealth, Quezon City to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.
If these plans goes accordingly, the Philippines will have a better transport system. President Duterte might be labelled as a tough leader because of his unfiltered words and his controversial war on drugs.
But behind these actions there are a lot of achievements he has done so far in his administration.
The Philippines, being an archipelagic country, houses to different modes of transportation. Boats and "roro" for waters, planes and jets for air, and for land, the jeepney, which was hailed as the "King of the Roads".
With the Philippines' growing population, it is no surprise that there are a lot of different public utility vehicles traversing on our country's roads.
Since jeepneys are for public consumption, these vehicles are not as good as those that are privately-owned. To avoid the hassle and inconvenience of riding these types of vehicles, many Filipinos choose to purchase their own cars.
Huge population, high number of public and private vehicles, and narrow roads—these are just few of the reasons why the Philippines is being plagued by heavy traffic.
Anywhere in the country indeed, traffic hurdles the lives of Filipinos. Numbeo, an online database on cost of living, ranked the Philippines as 6th in the world's most traffic countries.
The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) even warned the country that by 2030, we could lose P6B a day.
With the severity of JICA's warning and filthy state of the Philippines' transport system, President Rodrigo Duterte publicly announced that he would do certain measures in order to solve the predicaments in heavy traffic.
Duterte's Four Specific Traffic Countermeasures
On April 3, 2017, President Duterte met with the officials of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and gave the four specific counter measures to solve the traffic in Metro Manila.
1. Clearing operations in Roxas Boulevard
Clearing operations were first conducted in Baclaran, Pasay City, a place known for being congested due to illegally parked vehicles and vendors on the sidewalk. 40 towing trucks were dispatched by the agency.
Results: Four lanes were cleared, a pedestrian lane was created, vendors were moved to another place, and the clearing operations continued up to Kalaw Avenue.
2. "Flexi-time"
In order to lessen the congestion on the roads, MMDA proposed this plan to change working hours of government employees or implement a four-day workweek.
Results: No updates on the proposed plan as of today.
3. Trucks to ply major road
Trucks are prohibited to travel along the country's main roads, and to lessen the traffic in some areas, President Duterte proposed this plan because according to him, it will also boost the night economy.
Results: No updates on the proposed plan as of today.
4. Filing charges against barangay officials who fail in their duty to keep roads cleared by MMDA
To intensify clearing operations and to make sure that the project is being implemented properly, Duterte ordered to file cases against local officials who failed to properly coordinate with MMDA.
Results: Five days after president Duterte's order, barangay chairmen of Don Manuel and Veterans Village District 1 Area 3 were charged a case in Ombudsman for "failing to keep their streets free of illegally parked vehicles and other obstructions." Seven more officials were charged as of May 2017.
Lawyers were called upon by MMDA to support the intensification of the campaign.
Of all the four countermeasures Duterte has ordered, two were successful and are continuously operating while the others need to possess further improvements to make these measures a "four over four".
The Tale Of Emergency Powers
10 days before assuming the country's highest post, then president-elect Duterte announced that he will be asking for the legislature to grant him emergency powers in order to solve the country's traffic problem. According to transportation secretary Arthur Tugade, the emergency powers would last for two years depending on the decision of the Congress.
Under emergency powers, the government could skirt biddings, remove terminals and markets along main roads, as well as parking on the aforementioned locations.
During president Duterte's first day in office, senator Franklin Drilon filed Transportation Crisis Act of 2016 to back President Duterte's statement that the latter would ask support from the Congress. After a few months, the House Transporation Committee led by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento approved House Bill 4334, granting president Duterte emergency powers via 17-1 vote, on January 19, 2017.
But on May 16, 2017, President Duterte announced that he will not be obliging the Congress to grant him the emergency powers.
Senator Grace Poe, sponsor of the bill promised to hasten the deliberations while the plenary debates in the Congress is yet to start.
Goodbye, King Of The Road?
On December 2016, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced that jeepneys operating for 15 years and above will be subjected to a phase-out. According to LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra, the modernization of these jeepneys will help solve the traffic.
These vehicles have been travelling for decades now and are undeniably, part of Filipinos' culture and identity.
That is why on February 6, 2017, a jeepney strike was conducted by jeepney drivers and operators to show their protest on the government's decision to phase out the vehicles. This strike was followed by another series of protests last February 27, May 23, June 5, and July 24.
The same bill granting Duterte emergency powers is the same bill which mandates the replacement of old jeepneys.
According to Piston, 600,000 drivers and 200,000 operators will be affected by the program. As of today, the bill is under the deliberation of the Congress and more strikes are expected to be conducted by jeepney operators and drivers.
Build. Build. Build. To Worsen Traffic?
Even before he assumed office, President Duterte has been very vocal on his aspiration to solve the country's problem on traffic. Along with it, he also mentioned the so-called "Build. Build. Build." which will focus on infrastructure-building to boost the country's growth.
This is also known as TRIP (Three-year Rolling Infrastructure Program) that will cost P8 to 9 trillion from 2018-2020.
TRIP may be a good indication of our nation's continuous growth, but budget secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed his doubt that this may even cause heavier traffic. According to Sec. Diokno, during the simultaneous construction of these infrastructures, Filipinos should brace for heavier traffic.
But Diokno assured that the traffic will be experienced only for a few years as the constructions would bring better transport system.
Digong's New Moves
After all his aspirations and acts to lessen the problem in traffic, president Duterte still managed to propose a new solution—the subway. According to Department of Transportation, the subway will be connecting Metro Manila's Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 & 2 and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3.
The subway will be an alternative for cars, and will include subterranean railways.
The project will be using a tunnel-boring machine to avoid causing too much inconvenience in the cities. Under transportation undersecretary Noel Kantanar, Line 4 will stretch along eastern Metro Manila and Line 5 will be a subway through Pasay, Makati, and Taguig.
Line 6 will stretch along Dasmariñas, Cavite and Line 7 from Commonwealth, Quezon City to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.
If these plans goes accordingly, the Philippines will have a better transport system. President Duterte might be labelled as a tough leader because of his unfiltered words and his controversial war on drugs.
But behind these actions there are a lot of achievements he has done so far in his administration.
There might be lapses for other sectors but overall, the changes he has brought to environment, education and traffic elimination are quite commendable.
This is MNLKID's three-part analysis on DUTerTE: Deteriorating and Unhabitual environment, Tertiary and basic Education, and Traffic Elimination.
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