Duterte’s traffic test

We are missing out on the more substantive aspects of the new administration’s plans after taking office. The nightly press conference of Du30 is sheer entertainment unless the reporters are able to ask better questions on how he plans to deliver the change he promised.

Mr. Duterte made the right decision to stop giving press conferences. That will force the reporters to talk to the prospective Cabinet members about their plans and programs.

I am sure that by now, Mr. Duterte and members of his Cabinet are starting to get daunted by the enormous tasks they face and the high public expectations. They have to, as the cliché goes, hit the ground running on Day 1.

Unfair as it may be, people will expect visible changes as soon as the first month. This is particularly true in Metro Manila where people voted heavily for Mr. Duterte in protest over how the Aquino administration bungled the job of looking after their welfare.

In Metro Manila, I cannot think of a more visible problem than traffic and inadequate mass transport. Both seem like impossible to alleviate in the short term, but patience from harassed Metro Manilans will be short. This is why I agree with the proposal for emergency powers raised by Ed Yap who heads the transport committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

It seems we have done all the easy things to alleviate the traffic problem. Now, almost everything the new administration can do amounts to shifting chairs on the deck of the Titanic. 

I am afraid there is no choice but to do more of the same things in the immediate term to show something is being done. But these must all be done with more passion and political will. The most important element that will make a difference for Mr. Duterte and his Transportation secretary is political will.

For example, I understand that 40 percent of buses on EDSA are colorum or those riding on franchises of other bus operators. Will prospective Transport Secretary Art Tugade have the cojones to get those colorum buses out of EDSA within a week of assuming office?

Only former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando dared to get the colorum buses out of the streets, but he didn’t get enough political support from then President Gloria Arroyo. Fernando was stopped by LTFRB from doing LTFRB’S job. Tugade must have the total support of Duterte. It will also help if they have someone like Fernando as MMDA chairman.

Getting the colorum buses out is not enough. The remaining operators must start paying salaries and benefits to drivers rather than demanding a boundary fee. That is critical to getting drivers to behave on EDSA and not aggravate traffic problems as drivers maneuver recklessly to get passengers.

Reducing the number of buses must also be complemented by reducing the number of commuters during rush hours. This may require shifting some work hours as this seems easier to do than adjusting school hours. Many schools are now on three shifts due to limited number of classrooms.

 Since President-elect Duterte has announced he would start working at 1 p.m., maybe government offices could start working at the same time and go all the way to 8 pm. This way, they will not add to commuter volume in the morning rush hours.

There is the added benefit of private sector workers being able to transact business with government after 5 pm without having to take a day off from work. Former newsman Junep Ocampo thought of this scheme.

Then there are call centers whose thousands of workers suffer serious commuting problems daily.  While many of them work the graveyard shift, there are enough of them on regular shifts who would appreciate better commuting conditions.

I heard the Duterte administration will take decisive action on this problem by discouraging or even preventing new call centers to be located in Metro Manila. This is also in line with the call of Mr. Duterte to decongest Metro Manila by directing new businesses to locate in the provinces.

As it happens, a call center can be located anywhere with a reliable broadband service. Close to Metro Manila, Clark seems to be a good place for new call centers to be located or older ones to be relocated. Or Laguna and Batangas provinces.

The Duterte administration can fast track this policy of relocating call centers outside Metro Manila by instructing the PEZA to deny export processing zone status to any call center wanting to locate in Metro Manila. This may hurt some property developers who are still building call center buildings, but it is good for the rest of Metro Manila residents.

The other traffic problem is in the air, over NAIA. The air traffic problem is also causing horrendous losses for passengers, airlines and hurting the country’s reputation and desirability for business.

A quick help is to shift all general aviation out of NAIA to Sangley or Lipa. But P-Noy and his boys didn’t have the balls to carry this out. They kowtowed to corporate taipans who do not want to be inconvenienced when they fly their corporate planes.

The time it takes for a corporate jet seating 10 people or less and an Airbus with over 300 passengersto to take off or land is the same. Let us see if Duterte and Tugade can do what must and can be done even without emergency powers.

Incidentally, a reader e-mailed me his reaction to a news report about a British consultant CAAP hired to help solve NAIA congestion:

“Hi Boo, if you will recall in my email many months ago, I reacted to the P66 million consultancy fee that CAAP will be paying the British consultants, employed to study/and submit recommendations on the worsening NAIA air traffic delays.  Tonight, in the news, CAAP has announced that the British consultants have not delivered the results of their study. Haha, well maybe there’s none to recommend anyway except: Build a new goddam airport! Exactly what I meant. Sayang ang pera, sa totoo lang. Thanks a lot...

“Re Clark: Forget Clark! Just because it has an existing Rw02/20 parallel runways, it doesn’t mean both runways can simultaneously be utilized for wide body aircraft operations, one for takeoff, the other for landing aircrafts.  Pang fighter planes lang applicable yun in the ’60s.

“Minimum wingtip to wingtip clearance between the two parallel runways is insufficient to meet FAA/ ICAO standards. Reclaim and build Sangley is my best suggestion pa rin. Goodnite sir.”

There are many more things in a “to do” list for the first 100 days of the new administration than one column can discuss. These are just some examples of what could be done to respond to the traffic problems that will make people think positively of the new administration.

I don’t think Mr. Duterte will be judged by the people on the basis of what the Malacanang press brat pack reports about his wolf whistles. The new administration will be judged on what they can visibly deliver very quickly on very real everyday problems.  Euphoria over his election can dissipate very quickly unless people see action on the ground.

We can talk about other fast deliverables in future columns.

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