Transport group urges DOTr: Rethink privatization of EDSA Carousel
MANILA, Philippines — A transport group urged the Department of Transportation to rethink its plan to privatize the EDSA bus carousel next year, saying that privatization of public utilities does not guarantee efficiency, and in order to maximize private profits, often results in fare hikes.
This comes after Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista confirmed the department would be heading in that direction for 2023 with the end goal of having the busway in Metro Manila's busiest thoroughfare conform to international bus standards.
"We encourage Bautista to think about it carefully," Mody Floranda, national president of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide or Piston said in Filipino in a statement sent to reporters Thursday. "What is the guarantee of businessmen that they will serve the public interest if the public interest is affordable and effective service?"
To recall, the Management Association of the Philippines submitted its proposal to privatize the busway's operations and align the project with measurable performance metrics based on busway standards outlined by nonprofit Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
Piston said that the current mass transport crisis in Metro Manila is a symptom of the government’s overwhelming reliance on the private sector. Major solutions and improvements in mass transport can only be done with responsible government ownership of public utilities.
The group also said that what the public needs is more government support and subsidy on social services, pointing to the Libreng Sakay program which it said could be expanded across different modes of mass public transit.
"We know that the interest of the private sector is how to increase revenue while lowering their operating costs and wages for their workers. So when what should be a public service like the EDSA Carousel is handed over to big businessmen, we can expect fares to increase as well. Our commuters will be even more miserable," said Floranda.
This comes with the Libreng Sakay program offering free rides along the busway set to end on December 31 after it was extended.
Floranda said that instead of relying on private investments, the national government should implement a more progressive tax system giving stress on higher income and real estate taxes on the wealthiest families and increasing corporate taxes on large corporations in order to fund and subsidize essential public utilities.
"At a time when the price of goods is very high but the wages of our countrymen remain low, it will be even more difficult if the fare also increases because the businessmen will make money from public transportation instead of the government should be fulfilling its duty to make the transportation affordable public services,” added Floranda.
In an interview aired over DZBB Super Radyo, Transport Undersecretary Mark Steven Pastor said that the government was looking at having private bidders take up fleet management and bus operations along the busway. He also said that the possibility of further government subsidies was still on the table.
"The government doesn't earn anything from the operational profit of the EDSA Carousel...We'll make sure that the procurement will be transparent and in accordance with existing procurement rules and regulations," he said in mixed Filipino and English, pointing out that bus operations are already privatized as it stands.
Primo Morillo, convenor of commuter group The Passenger Forum called the existing busway a "pop-up project" that saw little to no investment over the coronavirus pandemic.
He said that commuters were looking for interconnected stations, at-grade access, and waiting areas for passengers of the busway.
"What this privatization proves is that it was really just a pop-up project. In the long term, the priority will be how to get commuters to malls instead of the passenger experience...they won't be interested in stations far from their establishments," he said in Filipino in a phone call with Philstar.com.
Morillo pointed to MRT-3 stations that don't have corresponding busway stations — such as Boni, Cubao, and Magallanes — as he questioned what he said were talks that mall operators would participate in bidding.
"The carousel had a lot of problems even if we wanted to have some semblance of a bus rapid transit system in our country, and that was the closest we had to that...For us, the government should invest state funds because the busway does help the economy [but] I think we have to check what they mean by international standards. After this they might also want to privatize the MRT-3."
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