Skyway toll rate increase suspended

A day after it was set to be implemented, the Metro Manila Skyway management announced that collection of increased toll rates has been suspended until July 16.

"President Arroyo advised us to suspend the increase because it seemed to her, we did not devote enough time for the information campaign," said Ramon Borromeo, spokesperson of the Citra-Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC).

Borromeo admitted failure on CMMTC’s part to properly inform the public of the increase, scheduled to take effect yesterday and would be in effect until Dec. 31.

The CMMTC posted billboards announcing the new toll rates at all entry and exit points of the elevated section of the Skyway. "We assumed that everybody passes by the Skyway everyday," Borromeo said.

He added, however, that CMMTC would stand to lose between P1.5 to P2-billion a day because of the suspension of the toll rate increase.

The two-stage provisional increase was approved by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) last year. While the President suspended indefinitely the toll rate increase in the North and South Luzon Tollways due to widespread protest last January, CMMTC was allowed to implement the first stage of the increase.

Borromeo said CMMTC applied for a provisional increase after a "severe peso devaluation" and to provide sufficient revenues for the company’s obligations. "Unfortunately, it is passed on to the users, just like with the PPA (Purchased Power Adjustment)," he said.

For his part, Movement for Responsible Enterprise (MORE) president Ray Junia said that while consumers recognize such a "recovery mechanism," the government should have at least studied "how much the market can afford to pay and if the project improved the traffic situation at all."

CMMTC is a joint venture between Indonesian company Citra and the Philippine Construction Co. (PNCC), a government owned and controlled company (GOCC).

"We are calling for a review here," Junia said, adding that petitions for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the toll rate increase have been filed before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

Junia noted that the new toll rates are 100-percent higher than last year’s rates. He added that his group would explore all legal possibilities to stop the increase but did not discount the possibility of staging mass protests, along with homeowners from Las Piñas and Parañaque. – Nikko Dizon