Big plans, little impact

We are often flummoxed at what the Department of Public Works and Highways is widening streets and spending billions of taxpayer money for in Metro Manila alone.  Just look around and what do you see?  The additional concrete lanes become parking lots for private cars, jeepneys, buses, delivery trucks, tricycles and what-have-you, faster than anyone can turn his head to check if the cement has dried!

And why can’t the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority do anything about it?  It is so big on making pronouncements about grandiose plans costing taxpayers millions ad infinitum to ease traffic, but so little on making its hard-knuckled presence felt.  Simply put, it is utterly inutile at fulfilling its mandate.  Those so-called “clearing operations” we see on TV every now and then seem to be nothing more than photo-ops. Of course,  when the cat goes away, the mice come back to play!

This kind of governance by these two leading government agencies concerned with our traffic problems is so irredeemably f*cked up.

STEPHEN L. MONSANTO, [email protected]