Online Cabinet meeting eyed to ease traffic

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte and his Cabinet are eyeing an online meeting – veering away from face-to-face meetings that are usually held on Mondays at Malacañang – if only to save themselves and other motorists from road traffic congestion.

Eliseo Rio, information and communications technology acting secretary, said the first-ever online Cabinet meeting might take place this year as part of efforts to help ease traffic.

“We are going to have the first teleconferencing Cabinet meeting within this year. This was in fact the idea of the President since he assumed the presidency, when he said he does not want his travels and that of the members of the Cabinet for meetings and attending events to contribute to the traffic problems in Metro Manila,” Rio told The STAR.

He added that the plan is to have a meeting “wherein no secretary will have to leave their office because, whenever there is an event in Malacañang and if all of us will go there, that is one cause of traffic (congestion).”

A virtual Cabinet meeting would enable the likes of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia to stay in their respective offices in Clark, Manila, Makati and Pasig while discussing various agenda and plans with Duterte at the Palace.

Rio said the plan has taken time to start because of the budget requirement and procurement process in coming up with a teleconferencing system.

“The system must cater to the needs of the Cabinet clusters and the teleconferencing capability of each department in the government to reach their respective regional offices. All local government units must also be able to access this government teleconferencing network,” he pointed out.

Once the system becomes operational in Metro Manila and other major cities, Rio said teleconferencing and telecommuting would greatly help in reducing the traffic problem in Metro Manila.

“Especially if the private sector will pitch in setting up virtual meetings when physical presence is not needed. Thus, by the end of the year, we, including the President, can virtually travel from Cubao to Makati in five minutes, the time to set up a teleconference meeting,” Rio added.

Duterte signed in December last year Republic Act 11165 or the Telecommuting Act.

The law allows an employee in the private sector to work from home or at an alternative workplace with the use of telecommunication or computer technologies. It aims to address traffic congestion and to promote a healthy work-life balance. 

“How many small meetings are there in Metro Manila a day? That is roughly 20,000 and that involves about 50,000 cars or vehicles. If we can only eliminate that because we can do business transactions online or video conferencing, then we could ease traffic,” Rio said.