EDITORIAL - A New Year ‘gift’ to motorists

Remember the good old days when the minimum fee for using the tollways was a peso? That was only a couple of years ago, when a drive on the South Luzon Tollway from Nichols to Alabang cost all of P2.50. These days motorists are missing even the rate of P22.50 for the same stretch; those good old days ended Dec. 31, 2001.

At the stroke of midnight, as Filipinos erupted in noisy rejoicing to welcome 2002, that P22.50 made a giant leap to P33, with the minimum now set at P15 by the Toll Regulatory Board. A similar increase took effect at the North Luzon Tollway from Balintawak to Tabang. The rate surge was reportedly made upon the behest of tollways investor CITRA Metro Manila Tollways Corp. Over at Coastal Road, meanwhile, the toll also rose from P9 to P12, coinciding with the increase at the North and South Luzon tollways.

With the peso plunging from 27 to more than 50 against the dollar in four years, fuel prices rising by nearly 100 percent over the same period and prices of other commodities following the uptrend, increases in tollway rates are inevitable. There are also those who argue that the country has one of the lowest tollway rates in the region.

But it can be galling to pay higher rates to use roads pockmarked with ruts. At the North Luzon Tollway, operator Philippine National Construction Corp. can’t even keep out vendors and pedestrians. Hawkers even offer vinegar to go with your chicharon when you’re stuck in traffic. A few years back some lowlifes dropped a rock from an overpass, killing a passing motorist on the tollway.

It’s also galling to consider that tollway investors may have failed to meet their project commitments and targets because they did not have the required capital to begin with, and are trying to raise the needed funds by collecting the biggest amounts possible in the quickest time from the public. How come the Skyway never reached Alabang as originally intended? Did the operator run out of money and wants motorists to shoulder the costs as quickly as possible? An increase may be unavoidable, but the government should take a closer look at the reasons for a surge in toll rates.