Wanted: Political will

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has authored the “Anti-Epal” Bill, a proposal to ban politicians from advertising themselves in public works projects. Kudos to her if this passes into law, and she can rightfully take the credit for banning politicians from taking credit with things we paid for with our taxes.

But there are many other things that can and should be fixed, and I’m still waiting for someone with the political will to really make things happen. For example, when will we…

Phase out the jeepneys. Let’s not kid ourselves with the “cultural heritage” excuse. Sure, the first jeepneys were converted WW2 hand-me-downs, but the “modern” jeep is your basic truck chassis with a locally fabricated body and an extremely inefficient, diesel engine. They are too loud, too many, and emit so much pollution, yet they are seemingly impervious to the “Anti-Smoke Belching” teams who have the otherwise uncanny ability to flag down perfectly compliant SUVs and trucks for roadside emissions tests. One can argue that they can theoretically carry more passengers than the average car, but count the number of practically empty jeeps idling at intersections and crowding the road and it’s obvious that the “King of the Road” is just a hog.

Put more bike lanes. I don’t have a problem with motorcyclists. I ride a bike myself and can relate to the stress of navigating our perilous roads. What I do have a problem with are the undisciplined, careless riders who swerve in and out of lanes, cutting across cars, or occupying all the lanes at the blistering speed of 50 km/h on the highway, oblivious to the long cue of vehicles behind them. Enforced bike lanes make the road safer for everyone. There’s less chance of car-bike collisions, and less need for everyone involved to keep changing lanes to whichever is “faster” at a given moment.

Beautify the road side. That may seem effete, but I’ll give you two examples of UGLY: the hideous, alien egg structure occupying the roundabout at NAIA Terminal 3, and the macabre, graffiti “art” painted on the wall of EDSA just before the Magallanes flyover. The former is a waste of money whose only justifiable reason for existence is quite possibly lost on the thousands of bemused motorists who wonder “what the heck is that?” every time they drive there. The latter is arguably more defensible as whoever did all that painting obviously put a lot of work into it, but really: giant, green, floating brains with tentacles is not something the average commuter may be ready for on the way home. If you’re going to make the effort to beautify the roadside, at least do something most people can relate to.

Rethink the number coding scheme. Penalizing people for using their car to get to their destinations won’t work. Most of them will still get to where they need to go by some other means. Like using another car with a different plate number ending, of course. And people use cars because, as expensive as driving can be, they are much more time-efficient than our public transportation system with too few trains and too many under-capacity buses and jeeps that clog the road as they jostle for passengers.

Make building owners construct adequately-sized parking areas. I don’t really mind paying the usual hundred-plus pesos for a few hours of parking; it’s still better than risk having it stolen in a “free” parking area. What I do mind is when building owners don’t provide more than a handful of parking slots. How much time have you wasted waiting for slots to open?

Regulate the billboards. Ads, ads, ads, everywhere we go. There are giant billboards, moving billboards, building facades converted into billboards… what’s next? Driving is like watching free TV; so much clutter, and no respite at all from the hundred and one advertisers and endorsers, the most infamous of which are nearly naked. But since this is a fairly progressive culture, both sexes are represented. When will this visual assault stop so we can, you know, focus on driving and possibly enjoy it for a change?