I have three proposed solutions to our traffic problem, which is unrivaled by any other in the world:
- The one that can be effected quickly with immediately noticeable results is to move activities in the South Harbor (which is privately owned) to the three government-owned ports: Subic Bay Freeport, Batangas City Port and Cagayan Port.
The multitudes of trucks that crawl and line up bumper-to-bumper from the South Harbor to North Luzon Expressway/South Luzon Expressway will disappear.
Also, the multitudes of support service people needed for such services — drivers, cargadores, Customs inspectors, arrastre and importers, employees — will go with them. That includes their children who go to school, and the jeepney drivers who bring them to work, and the canteen personnel who feed them.
- All cargo should be handled from the ports to destinations inland by the Philippine National Railways, and farther to various depots. From the depots, elf trucks can handle the distribution.
- Move manufacturing and call centers to island provinces like Romblon, Samar, Masbate, Iloilo, Leyte. They have excellent deep-bottomed ports that can handle large ships. Many of these provinces have ghost towns because there are no jobs.
Transferring these facilities with the support services they entail — school, housing, transport — will liven up the local economies.
If we want to alleviate the traffic problem, these are the only solutions. Otherwise, we wait until people drop dead in the streets from suffocation due to the massive pollution, or lack of any sleep.
JAIME C. BALINGIT, MD
jimbalingit@yahoo.com