Urgent decision needed for connector road

Even before the P-Noy administration took power and came out with a reheated program called PPP, an unsolicited proposal had already been submitted for an express road that will connect NLEX with SLEX. The proposal came from Manny Pangilinan’s MetroPacific Group. It is still languishing somewhere in the bureaucracy being studied for at least a couple of years now as if time doesn’t matter.

But time does matter. NAIA 1 had been consistently topping the list of most undesirable airports in the world. Airport congestion is causing delays and wasted aviation fuel. There is indeed urgency in building an international gateway that will not constantly embarrass the country. Our options are limited.

Clark appears to be the best possible choice for an alternative to NAIA. It already has two runways that were built by the Americans good enough to handle even the space shuttle. And there is enough space for a third or even a fourth runway. Air Asia Philippines is all set to commence flights to and from Clark by year end, and if they do well enough, could establish Clark as the budget hub that could attract other budget airlines.

I am told Air Asia Philippines will start operations initially with three Airbus 320s and nine daily flights building up to 20 such aircraft and 60 flights a day in three years. But Sec Mar Roxas said TonyBoy Cojuangco of Air Asia Philippines didn’t tell him there was anything urgent to do in Clark for Air Asia when they were together in Tokyo during the P-Noy visit. So Clark is not yet top of mind for Mar.

The last time I talked to DOTC Sec Mar Roxas, he told me Clark will only be viable if there is a fast train service that will connect it to Metro Manila’s business hub, which I take to mean is either Makati or Fort Bonifacio. That is why, he told me, he has decided to first talk to the Chinese and get them to agree to reconfigure NorthRail into the fast train service to connect Clark with Makati or Fort Bonifacio.

When will this happen? There appears to be no timetable yet. Mar does not even have a schedule to talk to the Chinese to reconfigure NorthRail. What worries me is the 10 years it will take to get a fast train system going, if a JICA study gathering dust at the DOTC for years is to be believed. That would be way past the end of P-Noy’s term. To fast track it somewhat, Mar wants to use the PNR right of way for the NorthRail fast train version he has in mind.

The problem is, the MVP connector road proposal also talks of using the PNR right of way. A JICA study mentioned the possibility of constructing “a double deck elevated structure for transportation infrastructure (e.g. lower deck for high speed rail - extension from Caloocan and upper deck for a road connection).” There is also the regular PNR service to Bicol and commuter train service to Laguna that is now using that right of way.

I guess the first order of business is for DOTC and DPWH to decide on what to do with the PNR right of way… who gets the at-grade level, who gets the second and possibly, a third level. They have to act already on the MVP proposal before the private sector interest in it wanes. Also, even if the unsolicited proposal is approved now, it must still be subject to a Swiss challenge and that will take time too.

Government has dilly dallied long enough. Let us get going on that connector road project first as it seems to be the more expeditious option to make Clark a viable gateway sooner. The fast train can come along later since it still has a long time to go in terms of negotiations, feasibility study and funding. The connector road, on the other hand, is private sector financed and is ready to go.

Showing some movement in this unsolicited proposal before the year ends will help create a little more confidence in P-Noy’s infra program, given their failure to get the promised 11 PPPs any further than the Power Point Presentations to prospective investors.

Over rated

War is over rated. For one thing, it is expensive. For another, it doesn’t get the results war mongers say they will get. Just look at America today. The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan could be a big reason the US is in this fiscal mess. Bill Clinton left a fiscal surplus. Bush’s war helped create the mess poor Obama inherited. Bush left a deficit of $1.4 trillion and it is now at $1.3 trillion.

Brown University made a Costs of War project, which said the total for wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan is at least $3.2-4 trillion. There are no studies that tell us how much we spent on Erap’s all out war in Mindanao during his watch. But journalist Raissa Robles made this observation in her blog:

“For Estrada’s All-Out War, the military deployed at least two marine and two infantry battalions, or the equivalent of around 2,400 men, not just for days but for at least over a month. Think how many bullets and bombs they needed… Estrada’s All-Out War must have been horribly expensive.”

I take the position that P-Noy was right to publicly keep faith on the potentials of all out peace. Sounds naïve for some people but after what we have been through, we also know that war did not solve the problems there. Why spend good money after bad? I would take my chances on the good faith of the current MILF leaders who met with P-Noy that they will do what they can to give peace a chance.

In reality, we don’t have the money to spend for war anyway. We can’t even properly equip our military and our police. We might be better off doing an honest job of improving livelihood opportunities in the conflict areas and try to win the rebels through economic growth. Make sure our development funds are not stolen by so-called leaders of our Muslim brothers.

As for the military, P-Noy had the right to be angry. Here is how Glenda Gloria, a veteran defense journalist, addressing the military, puts it:

You gather poor intelligence, act on your own, deploy your trainees to a treacherous terrain infamous for eating troops alive, make a bad call, and in the end get fatal results. The mob cries for blood. If this happened in the past, under presidents who pandered to you either to arm their egos or protect their turfs, you know very well how this would have played out. They would have glossed over the damning details. They would have refused to ask you the hard questions. They would have simply nodded and shared your grief as you explained your incompetence away. And they would have issued you outright cash to run after these bastards. You’re used to this. We’d gotten you used to this. With or without peace talks, you’d brought your troops, like sheep, to the slaughter. Or have the people forgotten?

As for those who want all out war, may we call on them to first volunteer themselves and their children to go to the front lines. It is the only way to test the nobility of their intentions. It is easy to call for war and expect the children of your neighbors to fight the battles and possibly get killed.

There is also the impression that Erap launched his war because he needed a diversion from the daily scandals affecting him that eventually led to his impeachment. P-Noy has no such need. That frees him to make the right decision and not cater to a mob.

War and peace in Iraq

This observation was by Craig Kilborn.

“Part of the plan to rebuild Iraq is to create an Iraqi stock market. Haven’t these people suffered enough.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. He is also on Twitter @boochanco