Serving ‘lazy’ pedestrians

To encourage pedestrians to use overpasses, the Las Piñas City government is prepared to spend money to build ones with escalators.

"Tamad kasi ang mga tao umakyat ng hagdanan kaya tatawid na lang sila ng kalsada," Mayor Vergel "Nene" Aguilar told The STAR in a phone interview.

"And it‘s going to be a full service for the pedestrians. Escalators would be available not only going up the overpass but back down to the streets as well."

Aguilar said the project is part of Las Piñas’ "modernization," despite its having the smallest income among all the cities in Metro Manila.

The Las Piñas City Hall is also the only city hall in Metro Manila with an escalator inside the building.

The city government will build an overpass at the intersection of CAA Road in front of URCI Subdivision, the corner of Marcos Alvarez and Alabang-Zapote Roads, and in front of Fernando’s Supermarket along the Alabang-Zapote Road.

Each overpass costs P14 million.

The cost of the fourth overpass to be built in front of SM Southmall along Alabang-Zapote Road will be shouldered by the SM management, Aguilar said. The establishment would be given a tax rebate for shouldering the expenses, the mayor added.

Construction for the overpasses would begin this month. They would be completed by August or September, the mayor said.

Aguilar said Las Piñas would be the first city in the country to have overpasses with escalators.

But his vision is global: Aguilar added through the project, he wants to show the world that the Philippines is also a model country.

"We should set an example. They can also copy from us. It doesn’t have to be always us copying from them," Aguilar said.

The mayor said that among the cities that he had been to, it was only in Tokyo, Japan that has an overpass with escalators.

"I don’t think they have it in the United States even," he said. – Nikko Dizon