I was in Manila for meetings last Tuesday at the EDSA Shang and since I had reservations at the fabulous Manila Pavilion Hotel, I decided to take the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) which by the way still cost P12 from Shaw all the way to Taft Station and then took the Light Rail Transit (LRT) which now cost P15 from Taft all the way to UN Avenue for one of the quickest rides anyone can take from Shaw to UN Ave. If I took a taxi (which has not yet increased its flag down rate) that ride would have cost me close to P500 and I would have arrived 40 minutes later.
No doubt, our nation’s capital has one of the best mass transport systems worthy of a capital city. However one can immediately notice that there are still buses along the route in EDSA or jeepneys along the route in Taft, which is why traffic is still so bad in those busy main thoroughfares. This is due to the fact that there is no political will to remove those slow-moving, fuel thirsty (not to mention very polluting) vehicles.
When the LRT was constructed, I would come to Manila twice a month for my family business meeting with people like Johnny Litton then of Mever Films and Mother Lily (congrats Mother for making that enviable list of Philippine Cinema greats!) for bookings in our theaters in Cebu City. I painstakingly watched the construction of the LRT 1 as it traversed Avenida Rizal and I used to stay at the Avenue Hotel (I gathered it had Manila’s first elevator?) and eventually moved to Mother Lily’s Monte Hotel.
When the LRT was inaugurated, I was one of the first who took it and back then, the question that the people asked was, why were the jeepneys still along the same route from Monumento to Baclaran? The answer was simple enough… lack of political will, despite the fact that we were under the so-called Conjugal Marcos Dictatorship. Another reason is a serious lack of accessibility. Exiting from Taft Station and getting to the LRT 1 meant climbing 38 steps in a stairway, which is not an easy climb for the elderly or the arthritic or the disabled, or persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Now if only both the MRT and the LRT put escalators on all the stations, the it would be easier for any President, including Pres. PNoy to have the political will to remove those jeepneys along Taft and those buses along EDSA, so that a greater majority of Metro Manilans would now be taking the LRT or MRT. If no such drastic move is made, I can almost guarantee you that by the time Pres. PNoy leaves Malacanang Palace, traffic in Metro Manila would remain the same or worse!
This brings me to the issue whether the PNoy administration should follow the lead of then President Fidel V. Ramos who sold Fort Bonifacio, with the intention of making so much money in order to improve the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and also sell Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo? Let me just point out a lesson in history that the Fort Bonifacio has been transformed into one of the best urban developments in Metro Manila unseen since the Ayala’s turned Makati into what it is today.
The reason is that like magic, private sector developers can easily turn raw land into a beautiful development worthy of World Class buildings. On the other hand, what has the AFP gained from that deal? Where is the AFP modernization program? The last I heard was that the US Ambassador was giving away a few more Vietnam era Huey helicopters to the Air Force.
I am four-square against this deal, simply because it has not modernized the AFP or the Police and for sure, the urban developers would make a hefty profit from this deal. This is not to mention those real estate agents who would also cash in on this deal. But an even better reason is that, it would worsen the already bad EDSA Traffic because the government only has one major thoroughfare that is EDSA. So unless PNoy has other things in his mind, he ought to abandon this proposal because it is disadvantageous to the Philippine government.
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Today is the 1st death anniversary of a dear friend, Mr. Ernesto “Ernie” Aboitiz who once headed the National Power Corporation (NPC) under Pres. Cory Aquino. Ernie was a man who shared his passion with friends. One among them is his love for Philippine history that he shared with me. I won’t forget that Ernie once gave me a compiled book dubbed “PT Boat Base No.17” the Biggest PT Boat base in World War II” and it was in Samar. This got me into searching for it in Guian, Samar and eventually I found it 7 kilometers north of Guian, in the town of Mercedes and the basic structure is still there. Thanks to Ernie for pointing this to me, which is now part of the history of Samar. May we request our readers to please pray for the repose of his soul.
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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.