South Luzon Stalemate

We’ve all come across that hotshot who thinks he owns the road. Annoying, to say the least, but at least we always have the option to just give way and move on once that sensible little voice in our head speaks up. But what happens when one of those “hotshots” actually paid 12 billion pesos for the road, and the other hotshot refuses to give way despite a direct order from the Office of the President? Well, it’s better to stand back, get some popcorn and welcome in the Philippine entry to the World Pyro Olympics.

Call it the ultimate case of road rage, but that is exactly what is happening over at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). Hopefully the issue will have been resolved by the time this article sees print, but as of this writing, we have the corporate equivalent of two SUVs with their illegally-sirened convoys trying to run each other off the roads. Yes, guns and all.

Last December 6, the staff of the Manila Toll Expressway Systems (MATES), the legal owners of the SLEX franchise until 2036, came in to seize power from the PNCC, who they claim have been effectively operating without a license since their contract expired in April 2007 and their toll operation certificate was withdrawn. It ended with PNCC guards pointing their guns at the heads of female clerks, 49 staff of MATES being detained and nine shotguns being confiscated, according to MATES president, Isaac David.

PNCC president, Maria Teresa Defensor, claims that they treated the presence of the MATES staff as an attack on their own, hence the arrests, while the MATES management see it as a case of the bullying squatter lord that stoops to crying human rights abuse once the legal land owner comes in to develop his own property.

Now it would almost be worth it just for the sheer entertainment of it all you may say, but sadly, when giants fight it is always the little people who get hurt, and there are far reaching consequences here for each of the 170,000 motorists that ply the road everyday.

First up is safety. While the bitter war goes on between the two groups, kilometers and kilometers of fencing, as well as aluminum highway signs are being stolen regularly. MATES claim that it is all because the PNCC have denied security staff access to the highway to protect their investment, and worse, are purposely turning a blind eye to the theft during their absence, even though they are 40% share owners of MATES.

Defensor denies this, and claims that PNCC have been nothing less than cooperative.

MATES has not been able to put a peso figure on the theft just yet because as they say, “How can we? It is happening now as we speak. So the cost is always rising for us. As of March, however, we have lost 1.5 billion pesos. That’s not including the fencing and fiber optic wires that have been cut,” David continued. But more worrying than the financial cost is the security breach that could end in disaster if the proverbial chicken crosses the road. Or worse, a carabao. Try hitting that at 100 km/h.

Second is the human issue. Despite having two years notice, PNCC are playing up the “1,000 Filipinos will lose their jobs before Christmas” angle, while MATES are reacting with, “1,500 new Filipino jobs are being shelved until after Christmas”. Either way you see it, you have to admit, it doesn’t exactly look good to our foreign investors. As of now, MATES claims to have 800 full-time employees on the payroll showing up to work everyday with nothing else to do except to witness this fight. They are like a paid audience, so to speak.

The PNCC is holding onto the argument that they do not need to turn over control (and more importantly, toll collections) until MATES has reached substantial completion of the project, which according to the agreement needs to be at 95% or above. MATES claim to have achieved that as of March this year and are quick to point out that they have been audited by the only officially endorsed government appointed firm, BCEOM, which estimates their completion to be at 98% – the remaining 2% being the construction of the toll plazas, which are the very ones they claim to be denied proper access to.

Defensor claims that another officially endorsed agency audited the completion to be less than the substantial 95% and had a TRO issued through a Pasig court to prevent MATES from taking over.

I’m not here to argue the merits of the case, though – there are plenty of people paid far more than me who will do that for them; I have simply presented to you both sides as explained to me personally by both presidents. You make up your minds from there.

But what I can say is that, while I am no legal eagle, as a regular motorist, I know the difference between night and day. When PNCC used to have the sole control of our toll roads, it was hardly the picture of highway excellence; we had potholes, flooding, abusive convoys drawing guns on innocent motorists (and getting away with it), no emergency service vehicles on standby, extremely poor lighting in just a fraction of the highway, overloaded trucks, erroneous charging on the e-pass system, dreadful traffic and a one dimensional scanner at the toll plaza that could not tell the difference between a bicycle and a bus, which is why I pay almost as much for the 2 kilometer stretch from Nichols to Merville than I do on the SCTEX from Tarlac to NLEX every time I put my bike on my roof rack.

Politics aside, just like their counterparts in the North, its hard to not notice the improvements that MATES have done down south. They have already widened the former 4-lane expressway and its viaducts and bridges to 8 lanes from Alabang to Sta. Rosa and 6 lanes in Calamba (I can only imagine how they must feel when they see those two new lanes closed off with PNCC orange cones during peak times.)

They have already begun construction on the 7.5 kilometer stretch from Calamba to Sto. Tomas, Batangas, that will link up directly to the STAR tollway giving 60% of Luzon’s trade direct access to Batangas Port, and are working on the 50 kilometer extension to Lucena. The ripple effect will include new residential communities and commercial development down south and ease the horrible congestion of Metro Manila. Not bad for their first three years.

David explains that the 29 kilometer stretch from Alabang to Calamba will be one of the best in the whole of Asia, offering a state-of-the-art CCTV system without a single blind spot, contact-less toll cards, an electronic toll collection system that would allow the Electronic tag holders to pass through the toll at up to 60 km/h and an optical curtain that scans the entire car to determine what class it is as well as to prevent overloading.

While we may have to wait until April to see if MATES can deliver exactly as advertised, we can only go on the example of the Tollways Management Corporation’s take over of the North, where motorists have seen a world of improvement in travel time, safety, security and efficiency. It would be a struggle to find a commuting soul out there that would swap the 2 peso per kilometer toll fee for the nightmare that was once passed off as a road. And while there may be one or two readers that don’t agree with me, not even a TRO can stop what I’m saying from being right.