Decongest Metro Manila

Former President Arroyo had the right idea of decongesting Metro Manila by moving government offices to the regions. But it was not well thought out and in the end the idea was abandoned.

Sayang. She had nine years to get something significant started. We don’t need to have the seat of government in Manila. It could well be in Clark, where there is more than enough land to come up with our version of Putra Jaya, Malaysia’s nicely planned government center about halfway between Kuala Lumpur and the airport. A fast train connects all three points.

Clark would have been ideal because there is so much land there that could be properly planned for a government center and the residential communities to service it. Clark has an airport that only needs a good terminal building and another runway.

Mt Pinatubo is a threat but is less so than the West Valley Fault and the Manila Trench are to Metro Manila. Indeed, the threat of a catastrophic earthquake in Metro Manila is a compelling reason to move the seat of government out. 

The Big One from the West Valley Fault could also seriously damage Angat Dam and cut off 90 percent of Metro Manila’s water supply. The recent earthquake drills also brought home the fact there is very little open space to run to for safety in Metro Manila because government allowed developers to build up almost every inch of available space.

Moving out to Clark is such a good idea that Ayala Land is doing a wonderful example of creative risk taking by developing a totally planned community in Porac, near Clark. Ayala must have seen something there so that even without the government center in Clark, they went ahead with it. That makes Ayala truly awesome!

FPGMA blew it by doing nothing with Clark. Outside of the Mimosa Golf Club, a brainchild of another pioneer, Jose Antonio “Speedy” Gonzalez, there isn’t much going on in Clark that approximates its potentials. The development of industries there has been slow. But they now have a Medical City there, thanks to the fantastic pioneering spirit of Dr. Alran Bengzon.

Former Nueva Ecija Rep. Rene Diaz, who was FPGMA’s main coordinator of Central Luzon projects, couldn’t explain to me why his former boss lost the nerve to develop Clark. But Rene is still so bullish about development in the entire Central Luzon all the way to the Pacific coast.

We spent one morning at the Tuesday Club talking about such possibilities as a deep water international container port in Dingalan, Aurora province. It would give us a Pacific Ocean port of entry for cargo in case things go wrong on the China Sea side.

Then there is the proposed transfer of the New Bilibid Prisons or NBP from Muntinglupa to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. Apparently, this is another initiative of FPGMA that she never carried out. She issued Executive Order 568 on Sept. 6, 2006, instructing the Department of Justice to transfer the NBP.

The reason for the order is simple. A wider expanse of land is needed to build and run a proper prison facility that would be able to undertake rehabilitation programs for the prisoners. There is simply no room to do that at Muntinglupa which is very overcrowded.

Apparently, nothing moved for four years under the Arroyo watch. And it took almost the whole term of P-Noy for the project to finally reach the point of awarding.

But we are not there yet. I asked Senate President Frank Drilon about it because I remember he was talking about doing this during the FVR watch when he was Justice Secretary. Frank checked with DOJ and came back to me with the good news.

The P50.2 billion project (P30.7 billion of which is for buildings and civil works) will be awarded this November. The winning bidder will be allowed up to May next year to secure financial closure.

The project will be implemented under the BOT Law. It will be a Build Transfer-Maintain (BTM) contract, a variant of the more familiar BOT contract.

Under the BTM model, the private contractor finances and constructs the prison facility and subsequently maintains it during a period of 20 years. The private party is limited to the structural and technical maintenance of the facility.

A performance-based availability fee is paid by the DOJ to the private contractor. The availability fee is paid each quarter for a period of 20 years. Inclusive of the construction period (estimated at three years), the total length of the contract is 23 years.

There is no doubt they need this new prison facility yesterday. Various prison facilities all over the country are severely congested and worn out. The living conditions do not meet minimum international standards. This is particularly the case for the NBP in Muntinlupa and the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong.

The initial capacity of NBP was set at 3,000 and gradually expanded to 9,300. But the rise in the number of inmates has been phenomenal. It now exceeds 22,000, or more than double the rated capacity.

The proposed prison facility in Nueva Ecija will occupy 500 hectares of the Fort Magsaysay military reservation area in the town of General Tinio. The project will have 26,880 beds and central facilities. The prisoners in both NBP and CIW will be transferred here.

The 342.7-hectare area to be vacated by the NBP in Muntinglupa will be auctioned off to property developers, assuming this could be done. I heard it is a donated property with a restriction that it can only be used as a prison facility.

If government can sell it, they should require the commercial developers bidding for the property to submit development plans before being qualified to bid. It is important the fairly large property is properly planned to avoid the haphazard development that has characterized most of the metro area.

The current site of the CIW in Mandaluyong, which is part of the Welfareville property, will be reverted to the DSWD. The Welfareville property is about 110 hectares and has a lot of squatter intrusion. Government must reconsider its current use as well.

Decongesting Metro Manila certainly starts with government. Moving the prisons out of the city is a good start. But there must be very serious thought to moving the central government, including the presidential palace out of the city to a place like Clark.

Malacañang, as it is now, can be converted into a museum. The area around Malacanang with those vintage houses could be made into a heritage community with restaurants and native crafts stores.

Decongestion will also require campuses of major universities in the downtown area of Manila relocated to less expensive peripheral areas. Universities can then redevelop their downtown campuses into commercial facilities whose earnings can help keep tuition fees affordable.

A good mass transport system which effectively extends the metro area to Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and Laguna is essential to any move to decongest the inner city core. Workers can live in lower cost communities around the metro area and be assured of easy access to their work places in the various metro business districts.

There is no escaping the need to decongest Metro Manila. Life is already brutish given the daily struggle with the MRT and traffic jams. The air we all breathe is already too polluted for our health. Many doctors tell me our polluted Metro Manila air is cutting down our life expectancy by more than a few years.

We can’t go on living like this. Something is going to give and it will happen soon. Metro Manila congestion is going to be a serious flash point for the next president. How to deal with this congestion requires big and bold moves that must happen very early in the term of the new president.

If we have to require all government officials to take public transport to give the decongestion program a kick start, we should do that. The next president must have a metro decongestion czar who will orchestrate efforts in this direction.

This is an important election issue. All of us oppressed by the problems of congestion on a daily basis ought to never let our candidates forget that.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco