My take on traffic and the DOTr
With the recent pileup of Twitter rants regarding traffic, I couldn’t help but share my two cents as well.
I’ve been reading some of the articles online regarding the senate’s inquiry on the Department of Transporation (DOTr) and how a certain senator wants the head of the DOTr sacked, well I couldn’t help but feel a bit offended. If you’ve been following the government closely as with regards to their programs, how they’ve been addressing the rising issues with public transport (especially trains), constantly building new thoroughfares that avert us from having to use EDSA, and so forth, I’m pretty sure you’ll understand where I’m at.
While there are certain actions that have made me question the decisions of the gov’t such as the initial ban on Angkas by the LTFRB and the ban on male-male motorcycle backriding in Mandaluyong (a scheme which I’m still annoyed with, but I do understand the rationale, but the implementation is terrible), I still support most of the actions taken by the DOTr.
Among some of the things I personally feel have improved
with my experience as a commuter are the better airport services (especially MCIA), better MRT train service (while not completely addressed, much better as opposed to the constant breakdowns in 2016), vastly improved PUVs (eSakay eJeeps and Quiapo Hino buses), and one-day license processing and printing.
Clearing ops are in full swing through the help of the MMDA, infrastructure construction underway (looking forward to the subway and extended MRT & LRT routes), and PUV modernization and route rationalization program.
Yes Metro Manila will only get more and more crowded, and while more roads are not the long term solution to traffic, we mustn’t forget the government’s pivot to change the center of operations from Metro Manila to Clark City as to aid congestion in the increasingly populated metropolis. There are steps being taken to improve the situation, most if not all of which are led by DOTr, with the said agency being the model in changing their head of operations to Clark. (Again the pivot to Clark guys, cannot overemphasize the importance of this).
There’s no short term solution to address traffic overnight. It’s both an infrastructure and mindset problem.
There’s a long way to go, but in my opinion, this is the only time I’ve felt that the govt is actually doing it’s part. While we understandably feel the worst now, one thing I’d like to echo is that THERE’S NO SHORT TERM SOLUTION to address these issues overnight. What we’re experiencing, the monstrous traffic, and seemingly endless public service problems are the birth pains towards a more sufficient public transport system.
Easy for me to say? Coming from a place of privilege where we can support cars and Grab, yes that’s true. But again, we cannot solve this overnight, and Metro Manila is already filled to the gills, the only long-term solution now is to branch out, to stop the overcrowding of commercial establishments and housing in MM, and go develop other places in the PH, and the public transpo associated with it.
While there are more cars sprawling now more than ever
Why blame the working class for now being able to afford luxuries? For being able to use the hard-earned money for their interests? Yes we’ve all read read on and have seen online statements on how we’re all affected by the higher purchasing power of the middle class, ergo, more cars. It’s an infrastructure and enforcement problem, we cannot hope for individuals to follow the law blindly without people telling them to (even if they should).
The LGUs also need to step up and perform an Isko to all their respective cities. Don’t settle for the “nakasanayan na namin” moniker, but go do what you were tasked to do. As Isko Moreno once said after cleaning up the streets of Divisoria “Why am I being praised? I’m doing the bare minimum of what the LGU, what the chief executive needs to do.” and that really struck me because what he said was true. The job of the local chief executive is to see that the daily operations of the city are done right. To reach out the common man, give opportunities, to discipline and follow the law, small things that are in the very description of what the local chief execs are tasked to do.
To build the country is to stop making MM the center of attention,
We need to push the development of the country beyond just NCR, we need to promote inclusive growth. And while still lacking, I personally think that that’s where we’re headed today.
I understand that I don’t feel what most Filipinos feel, vis-a-vis most Filipinos to my state. But I see to it that I understand the playing field. And while everyone’s suffering now, my only hope is that all of the sacrifices we’re experiencing now do gain merit in the future.
While I don’t fully support “everything” that the government is doing, and I’m well aware that we have differing opinions on certain things, well that’s what a democracy is about right? That’s why we different have different minds to solve different problems.
At the end of the day, we’re all Filipinos.
We should be more understanding of what’s happening around us and why such things are happening, we shouldn’t just blabber on the internet and demand things if we don’t know the why’s. And in the times that we see things that should be changed, discrepancies and missteps done, we shouldn’t be afraid to talk to the proper authorities and suggest and say our part. We need to constructive in the way we criticize. Then again, we should also be understanding and patient if and when there are already people working on the problems, and support them in whatever way we can.
