Let’s stop farting about and push through wit

Something’s seriously wrong with the Arroyo government’s plan to "re-negotiate" the $270-million contract governing the construction of the second phase of the Metro Rail Transit. Is somebody "interested" in hijacking that undertaking? One thing ought to be clear: President GMA doesn’t need another scandal to add to a pot now boiling over.

The second phase is supposed to connect the first phase of the EDSA LRT (Light Rail Transit) better known as the MetroStar, with the older LRT 1, which runs from Monumento in Caloocan to the Pasay and Baclaran. My question is: With the on-time completion of the first phase, in which the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) corporation built an efficient 17-kilometer rail system, along EDSA, why is there still a need to tinker with an already valid "contract" with a group that has shown it can get the job done? Are our officials going to get themselves a new set of amateurs to do the job? Who will "profit" from this? Certainly not the long-suffering, impatient commuting public.

The second phase is easier to rush than the original 17 kilometers. It consists of a 5.5-kilometer link connecting the MRT’s North Triangle station to the Monumento Terminal of the LRT 1. Moreover, that MRT group consists of respected names in business, such as Fil-Estate Management, Inc.; Ayala Land, Inc.; Anglo Philippine Holdings; Greenfield Development Corp.; Ramcar, Inc.; Allarte Realty; Development Inc. and DBH, Inc.

I’m suspicious, naturally, of the bad habit of "reviewing" valid contracts whenever a new administration takes over. Is this a case of "to the victors belong the spoils"? This sends a negative signal to the business community as well as foreign investors. Who’ll do business in a country where, every few years, each "incoming" bunch changes the rules of the game literally in mid-stream?

I don’t believe it’s a good idea to delay this vital project. Aside from their now-famous "Sky Train" (their version of MetroStar), the Thais are completing a subway line passing through Lumpini Park in the center of Bangkok. They’re leaving us far behind – eating their dust.

Let’s give the riding public a break for a change. Completing the extension to connect the MRT to the LRT will make for seamless travel around our metropolis, enabling students, workers and tourists to jump from one system to the other.

In addition, may I suggest we at last air-condition the trains of LRT 1? Does the government think that only the rich deserve air-conditioning in their private cars, and not the working class, the white collar employees and the middle class in their trains? The LRT 1 network may be swift, and has made formerly traffic-harassed commuters happy – but there’s no barrier to making them happier still. The MRT’s MetroStar trains have demonstrated that you can air-condition the cars and still make a profit.

The LRT1 and EDSA LRT have already shown that a fast train network not merely diminishes traffic gridlock and lowers the level of pollution. There’s the bonus of eliminating "man hours" lost while employees and laborers are stalled in traffic, whether by jeepney or bus. Commuters who take the LRT from Baclaran to Monumento, for instance, complete that trip in just 30 minutes.

I must point out that the danger of the GMA government "rebidding" the present contract is the almost inevitable prospect of non-completion. In fact, I recall the building of the EDSA LRT was delayed for years because, on the rantings of a Senator who claimed it was "overpriced", the Senate decided to investigate it. By the time the Senate probe and other congressional inquiries, and court suits (instigated by politicians), were over, the project cost more than double.

As for government meddling, the prime example is the still-incomplete LRT 2 project, with unfinished pillars stuck, uselessly, all over Aurora Boulevard. This is the result of the government deciding to take "short cuts" and handling the project itself.

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There have been criticisms of the EDSA MetroStar, but those early fears came to naught. Now, whenever they ride those fast trains, or even when they simply spot those trains speeding along, giving our drab metropolis a glimpse of modernity, the people have something to cheer.

I think the government could not have obtained a better deal than the 25-year "build, lease and transfer" scheme it has with the MRT Corporation. If this is converted into a "build and transfer" deal as some wise guys at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) are proposing the GMA government would have to shell out hard cash in a much-shorter period – which, unless my statistics are wrong, it doesn’t have too much of at the moment.

The current set-up is preferable. Under this scheme, the government just makes monthly payments spread out over 25 years. In short, the government puts in $70 million a year on the lenders’ component, and another $500,000 a month on the investors component. For its part, the MRTC put $200 million up front for the undertaking, while another $455 million was sourced from foreign loans. After the 25 year period, ownership of the system will be turned over to the government.

There have been the usual insinuations that the current MRTC contract was a sweetheart deal. To begin with, the contract spans three administrations and has withstood the test of the "vagaries" of each change of government. It was originally awarded during the Aquino administration, construction commenced during the FVR administration, and the first phase went into operation during the Estrada administration. Besides, the Supreme Court has already upheld the validity of the contract.

Let’s get cracking on phase two. Even in our malicious society, enough is enough.

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What? The Cabinet decided to make ROTC "optional"? Then nobody will take the Reserve Officers’ Training Course. Most students and their parents will opt for "community work", or something else, perhaps even "ballet dancing."

That was a stupid decision of the administration to virtually shelve the ROTC program. In recent years, true enough, there have been rackets bedevilling the program, such as students paying ROTC training officers and personnel to get "exempted", or overpriced patches, handbooks and equipment. The idea must be to reform the program, arrest or kick out the erring Armed Forces training personnel, and get military training properly back on track.

But trash the ROTC program? It’s like the foolish argument that we must "legalize" jueteng because that illicit gambling gambit is so widespread and has so many powerful protectors that we can’t seem to be able to cope with it.

I say: Crush jueteng. Restore the ROTC set-up. We’re becoming a nation of sissies and pusong mamon.

ROTC training has served the nation nobly and well for two generations. When the Army marched to Bataan to meet the Japanese in combat, hundreds – if not more – of the USAFFE soldiers were ROTC cadets who had volunteered to join the fight. Most of the Ateneo cadet corps, it’s documented, volunteered to go to war, but most of them were not accepted. It was the Ateneo’s finest hour, but nowadays – gee whiz.

ROTC program did not breed "militarists", although I think the backbone of the Armed Forces remains the almost two-thirds of the officers’ corps who came from the ROTC ("integrees", we call them), not the "trade school boys" who strut around and yell, "All right, Sir?" because they came from the Philippine Military Academy.

In our time, ROTC training bred discipline, endurance (under the hot sun and during long marches and maneuvers), and love of country. It was not the patch you wore on your arm but the devotion you wore in your heart that counted. Some cadets during drill or parades might faint from the heat of the sun, but the corps stood straight. Overcoming pain and discomfort was what, in the end, separated the men from the boys. That’s what we were taught – without "hazing", mind you – in the ROTC.

What will we have now, if ever the bugle sounds calling men and women to arms in case of a national emergency? Guys rushing to the barricades in their tutu’s or bowling shoes? Kids unable to handle themselves – much less to handle a gun? I remember an essay we had to study in our high school days. It said, and it’s true to this day: "The hard way is the only enduring way."

You bet.