Wrong answers

Aside from the severe water shortage, a most talked about topic seems to be the unexplainable and unpredictable traffic in Metro Manila. For some reason, there has been more traffic jams after the elections and there is no longer rhyme or reason to them.

There are no longer any of the old and set “rush-hour”, heavy days, and predictable triggers for traffic. On top of that, former MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando is also no longer around to impose his no-nonsense political will or be blamed for the mess.

After all the adjustments and corrections that have been made by the current leadership at MMDA, one has to wonder if our problem with traffic is an engineering problem or a problem of political will.

As expected government officials have come up with the usual suggestions but never really present all the facts and science behind their solutions. The blame is often on the “usual suspects” or presumed cause.

They are of course right but only to a limited extent, when they say that: “traffic is caused by vehicle volume and colorum buses”. Yes, I agree that we should reduce buses on the EDSA and yes let’s burn all colorum buses. But that is a defective momentary solution.

Why not focus our attention on the number one cause of traffic in Metro Manila and I will tell you that IT IS NOT ABOUT CARS. What causes the traffic are private villages, government facilities, schools and universities, police and military camps that have cropped up and blocked traffic because of their concern for privacy, exclusivity and security.

In my lifetime, I have lived in places that were once “villages” for the middle-class. I have seen these villages eventually give access and right of way to the public. Here in barrio Kapitolyo we have given public access but manage to maintain our “security”.

But I have yet to see private villages even attempt to give limited “pass through” or access even just during rush hour.

Just consider how the “exclusive village and school mentality” begins from Quezon City goes through the cities of San Juan, Makati and Parañaque. That’s four cities, while the city of Manila hosts so many government facilities just like Quezon City.

What can the administration of President Aquino do in terms of getting these exclusive villages, military and police camps, as well as factories and universities to give access or pass through to the public?

Here now is a real challenge and opportunity for P-Noy to create a level playing field. Can he get the “rich” people in Metro Manila to shed their exclusivity? Can President “Noy” Aquino part the “Yellow sea” of resistance from his rich and exclusive supporters and get them to open their village or facilities to help ease our traffic miseries?

At the very least, President “Noy” should commission a joint study with Congress about the direct impact of these obstructions to traffic, commerce, security and productivity in Metro Manila.

Should we build new roads along the Pasig River, which right now makes a lot of sense? Should we de-clog Metro Manila of factories, universities, military and police camps, should we redistribute or relocate offices, agencies or airports? In other words can we please RATIONALIZE what Metro Manila is supposed to be?

We cannot simply try to keep up with other countries by building or putting in features of a metropolis. We must first make sense of things or else we will end up the way horses die when their intestines get all tangled up.

While we’re busy trying to rationalize the metropolis, we seriously have to reduce or completely remove billboards along the major highways or roads such as EDSA, C-5, and SLEX.

We have observed and noted beyond any doubt that drivers slow down traffic as they get distracted and read billboard messages. If President Noy wants to prove this, he can place speed monitors all along these roads and discover just how many people do reduce speed especially in front of “sexy” or “interesting” billboards.

By actually doing studies and surveys, the government can arm themselves with facts versus those who are always part of the problem and not the solution.

By the way, drivers on EDSA and C-5 are calling attention to a mobile billboard company whose drivers intentionally drive slowly on the highway for increased visibility. Others are also asking why scooters or small motorcycles are allowed on EDSA, C-5, and other major highways when they are technically not suppose to be in highways.

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There is something wrong when the government thinks it is more important to spend money trying to make rain rather than enforce a strict and comprehensive water conservation action plan. Why waste government money on cloud seeding that has very dubious success rates? Why did the government go into cloud seeding instead of sounding the alarm to conserve water and imposing the equivalent of “Martial law for water consumption”?

There is something wrong when a private company has to ask the DILG to lend fire trucks to assist in water distribution instead of renting private tankers, and there is obviously something wrong with the engineering side of water distribution when the franchise holder has to revert to a backward approach such as truck deliveries instead on an alternative engineering design.

Rather than spend his time defending people in his cabinet or expressing his legal opinion on matters outside the realm of the Executive, now would be a good time for President “Noy” to challenge people in Metro Manila to be part of the solution instead of being the problem.