Supporting the truck ban

The strike by the owners of the trucking companies ended a couple of days ago, and traffic congestion resumed in the streets of Manila. The objection to the daytime trucking ban imposed by Mayor Estrada was said to have cost the Philippine economy hundreds of millions of pesos.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it looks at this issue purely from the truckers’ perspective. Instead of the short term selfish point of view of those opposing the daytime trucking ban, we should look at the losses from missed economic opportunities caused by traffic congestion in the streets of Manila. Let me give one concrete example.

Tourism has been singled out as the industry that will be the main generator of jobs for the Filipino masses. Our primary tourist destinations have been the beaches and diving spots in the different islands.

Metro Manila has never been a primary tourist attraction. Compare this to cities like Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Major cities like these have been tourist magnates all over the world. Cities like Makati or Quezon City do not offer any anything different or unusual to the Asian traveller.

But there is a Philippine city that can offer a new experience, from a sightseeing to a cultural perspective, to the Asian tourist. This is the city of Manila, once called the Pearl of the Orient.

Think of what is in the city of Manila, and compare it to the temples of Bangkok, the Sentosa resort, the shops of Hong Kong or the restaurants of Taipei. What can Manila offer that is found nowhere else in Asia?

It offers a city where the there is a mixture of Spanish, Malay and Chinese culture all within walking distance or, more excitingly, a jeepney or calesa ride away. There is the old Spanish colonial city of Intramuros and Fort Santiago with cathedrals and old homes found nowhere else in Southeast Asia. There is Luneta, the sunset at Manila Bay, and the National Museum in the old Senate building.

Manila’s Chinatown is actually unique because the architecture is a mixture of Chinese and Spanish colonial. And what Chinatown has is a Catholic cathedral in the center. And add to this the Cultural Center, Quiapo, Escolta and even Avenida Rizal.

Obviously, these potential tourist sites need to be developed and refurbished which will require investments by the private sector. One only has to look at Fort Bonifacio, Alabang and Canlubang to see what the private sector can do if there was an incentive for them. And the incentive would be to make Manila a primary tourist destination.

It should also be obvious that Manila is the only city in the Philippines which has all these potential tourist attractions. But the good thing is that these attractions are all located close to each other.

But there will be no investments unless there is a clear sign that tourists will come. So the first step is to address the obstacles that prevent this from happening, and most obvious is traffic congestion. It takes too long to get to the locations and tourists could end up spending more time stuck in traffic than sightseeing. 

If we assume that the obstacles, like traffic congestion, are removed and Manila becomes a primary tourist destination, it would not be farfetched to consider a million tourists a year as a target.  If we estimate the average expenditure at $1,000 per arrival, this is an estimated $1 billion or P450 billion injected into the economy every year – even without the multiplier effect. Even half of that targeted figure would be certainly justify any move to remove traffic congestion and make Manila a more accessible city.

There are other economic opportunity losses that could result from continuing traffic congestion. Manila has been an educational center, especially at the tertiary level. Over the years it has begun to see universities moving out.

De La Salle University has finalized its expansion plans to move to its 70-hectare Canlubang campus which is more accessible to those living in the southern part of Metro Manila and the Laguna-Cavite corridor. Other institutions like University of Sto. Tomas, San Beda College, Far Eastern University and St. Scholastica’s College have already opened affiliated campuses outside Manila.

There is a six-month moratorium on the daytime truck ban. During this period, steps should be taken to decongest trucking activities at the ports of Manila. One way would be to divert port shipments to the Batangas port for CALABARZON sites and Subic port for Central Luzon sites.

Businessmen, shippers and truckers should also be told to prepare for a shift from daytime trucking to evening trucking. It will mean opening warehouses in the evening. But businesses and people will learn to adjust. The BPO industry adjusted to evening work.

In six months’ time, the daytime trucking ban should be enforced and the task of returning Manila to its original status as the Pearl of the Orient should begin in earnest. This is a legacy that Mayor Estrada can leave to future generations and to history.

History of strategy

For people who are interested in reading about history and who want to learn more about the evolution of strategic thinking, I highly recommend the book Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman. Let me quote the publisher’s description of the book:

“{The book} captures the vast history of strategic thinking in this consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives.”

The author begins with the origins of strategy from the Bible, Ancient Greece, Sun Tzu and Machiavelli. He then writes on the evolution of military strategy and then proceeds to political strategy from Karl Marx to Barack Obama. He then writes on business and management strategy which is only around a hundred years old. Finally he talks of the different theories of strategies.

Leaders of nations, armies, corporations, political parties and any serious organizations are expected to have strategies. But even individuals need strategies – for developing a career, coping with bereavement, buying a car or potty training their child.

This is a book for everyone.

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