It is good that the incoming Duterte administration sees the traffic mess in Metro Manila as a “crisis.” That was the word incoming Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez used to describe the untenable situation, the daily nightmare, that is the lot of millions of commuters and motorists in the National Capital Region. That was the word used by members of the Duterte Cabinet, and the word that circulated at the recent Sulong Pilipinas business consultation in Davao City.
It is a crisis, and the incremental improvements that the Aquino administration sought belatedly to implement are not sufficient. The traffic in Metro Cebu and in other booming cities like Cagayan de Oro has also worsened in the last six years; in part because of the boom, in part because of lack of urban planning and administrative foresight, in part because of inadequate political will.
But because Metro Manila remains the main gateway to and from the Philippines, millions of residents from other parts of the country have had to suffer through what a best-selling novelist called the gates of hell just to reach the airports or the sea ports. And because over a third of the country’s gross domestic product is produced in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces, the opportunity cost of the daily traffic jams is too high.
Something much more drastic must be done. Are “emergency powers” the solution to the crisis?
Again, those were the words from the Duterte administration, its allies in Congress and its prospective partners in business. Previous initiatives did not work; it is time for Congress to grant the incoming President the emergency powers he needs to fix the problem.
We have nothing against the responsible exercise of extraordinary powers that the Constitution itself provides; the only issue is the responsibility part.
Let’s speak of specific proposals. Which powers do the Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, the Philippine National Police and other agencies need to solve the traffic nightmare in Metro Manila?
The debate in the chambers of Congress and the discussion in the coffee shops and on social media should revolve around specifics. There are many right-of-way conflicts hampering the implementation of traffic easing plans or infrastructure projects; there is a long-running melodrama over the number of buses allowed to ply the Edsa thoroughfare; there are unresolved issues with the different light rail systems crisscrossing the NCR. And so on, ad nauseam.
Which of these require the grant of emergency powers?
Part of the longstanding problem with the MRT has been the unsatisfactory arrangement with MRT Holdings; one of the first businessmen to pay a courtesy call on President-elect Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City was MRT Holdings’ Robert Sobrepeña. Does Duterte need emergency powers to force a new arrangement that will be beneficial to the commuting public?
A good number of intersections in Metro Manila fall on the boundary between two cities; for instance, the one at the end of Ortigas Avenue is between Quezon City and San Juan. When the traffic lights in this intersection go on the blink, who is responsible for repairing them—either of the two cities, or the MMDA? Does Duterte need emergency powers to answer this particular question?
Many of the problems related to the worsening traffic in Metro Manila were caused or amplified by an incompetent transportation secretary who did not ride the buses or the trains himself and could not comprehend the daily misery of the public. If incoming Transportation Secretary Art Tugade is the right man for the job, does Duterte still need emergency powers?
It is time for specifics. The need of the election campaign was for political shorthand, messages that could be sold easily and understood clearly. We are past that stage, and the notion that the mere resolute exercise of political will is enough—reflected in the proposition that “emergency powers” are the solution—no longer suffices.
What, exactly, are the incoming administration’s plans to solve the traffic crisis in Metro Manila? Pray tell.