Noy urged to address traffic woes

MANILA, Philippines -  Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday urged President Aquino to directly address the problem of traffic jams caused by the one truck lane policy implemented in Manila.

Escudero stressed the worsening traffic problem needs a direct solution from the President.

“The President should address this traffic problem… This is getting worse and it’s because officials or his supposed alter-egos are incompetent in doing their jobs,” Escudero said in Filipino in a radio interview.

He said the President can resolve the situation once he takes a hands-on policy on the truck problem.

Escudero said the President should review the possible solutions to the congestion at the Port of Manila rather than allow his Cabinet secretaries to solve it.

He said no apologies can make up for being stuck in traffic for hours, missed appointments and wasted time by motorists during the traffic woes last Friday.

“I don’t think the people want an apology. I think what people want is true and efficient service,” he added.

Escudero urged the people to forgive the President’s spokespersons who offered apologies for the traffic that extended up to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).

He said it is not enough for Malacañang spokesmen to guarantee that government is on top of the situation and yet motorists have to face huge traffic jams everyday.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., however, said Malacañang has made clear that only the Roxas Boulevard stretch in Manila and Pasay will observe the one truck lane policy to ease the months-long port congestion.

Coloma said the one truck lane policy is the product of consultations among stakeholders concerned, which include local governments in whose areas the container vans will be plying.

“This means there are the window hours where the trucks are allowed beyond the one truck lane policy,” he said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Task Force Pantalan have been tasked to ease the flow of traffic in the routes where the trucks will be plying.

Empty container vans will be allowed to leave the ports in Manila and transfer either to Subic or to Batangas. They will also be given a two-week pass until Sept. 15, when truckers will not be fined until all cargoes in the ports are cleared.

Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said they will be giving this privilege of 24-hour last mile truck route until Sept. 22. By Oct. 1, the government will impose a daily fine of P5,000 per container for overstaying containers.

This is in coordination with the Philippine National Police, the PNP’s National Capital Region Police Office under Chief Superintendent Allen Bantolo, Task Force Pantalan, MMDA, the Philippine Ports Authority, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and concerned local government units.

What about APEC preparations?

As this developed, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto asked if the government is indeed ready for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next year.

With 14 months to go before 21 heads of government converge in Metro Manila for the APEC leaders’ meeting, Recto wants to know if government preparations ranging from fixing roads to putting more cops on the streets are on track.

“If Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin will hug and pose for a selfie in November next year, will they be doing it in a metropolis that international reporters covering the APEC summit would hail as safe and clean?” he asked. “Or will the traditional ‘class picture’ of APEC leaders have cargo trucks stuck in traffic as background?”

Apart from Obama and Putin, up to 10,000 delegates, journalists and support staff will descend on Manila for the 27th edition of the APEC meet.

Some 21 meetings and ministerial conferences have also been slated in the run-up to the summit.

Recto remains optimistic the Philippines can still prepare for a momentous and memorable APEC summit.

“We must, however, work double time in seeing to it that all bases are covered – from accommodations for 10,000, to security, to fixing the airport, to repairing our roads,” Recto said.

Recto recommended congressional hearings on the proposed 2015 national budget be used “to audit APEC requirements.”

For hosting the APEC meeting, the government has put in a request for P4.6 billion, booked under the “International Commitments Fund” section of next year’s national budget.

Recto, however, surmised this is for hosting requirements alone and does not cover “outside-of-venue needs like sprucing up the airport.”

“There is a P1.9-billion allocation for the rehabilitation of EDSA, there is another P1.9 billion to repair flyovers. There is P600 million for the repair of NAIA. In the budget of the DPWH, there is at least P30 billion worth of projects which will be implemented in NCR,” Recto said.

“At present, Roxas Boulevard and Luneta are being improved at a cost of P457 million,” he noted.

In the case of NAIA, Recto said that the Manila International Airport Authority’s annual net income of P3 billion should prompt the agency to plow back some of it for passenger comfort facilities.

“In addition, privately funded road projects like the P15.5-billion, 7-kilometer NAIA expressway and the Skyway Stage 3 project are proceeding smoothly,” he said.

Eleven other big ticket items ranging from overpasses to rail line extensions are on the drawing board.

Although not all of the projects are attributable to APEC, Recto said those scheduled to be finished before APEC must be done so.

“If APEC is what led government to ask for more funds for Metro Manila, then so be it because after the guests are gone, the area is left with new or better infrastructure,” Recto said.

“The improvements we all want to see in Metro Manila are real, not cosmetic,” he added.

‘Vehicles, traffic unmanaged’

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said yesterday prohibiting provincial buses in the National Capital Region will not solve the area’s traffic problems.

He said the government should have instead managed the 800,000 utility vehicles, 400,000 cars, 120,000 trucks and 1.4 million tricycles fighting for every available space in the streets of Metro Manila.

He added that the circular limiting buses from the south up to Alabang in Muntinlupa City issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) “lacks prior notice and consultation with stakeholders and imposes undue burden and inconvenience among provincial commuters.”

Salceda sought last week a Supreme Court temporary restraining order (TRO) on the LTFRB memorandum banning provincial buses in Metro Manila.

The petition “assails the constitutionality of, among others, Memorandum Circular Nos. 2014-015 titled ‘Defining the Metro Manila endpoints of Provincial Public Utility Buses originating from Southern Luzon, Bicol and Visayas to Metro Manila as the endpoints of their current routes and for other purposes.”

Provincial commuters and bus operators from the Visayas, Bicol and Southern Tagalog hailed the move, saying Salceda took the cudgels for them.– Delon Porcalla