Kill on sight

Some time today, the Metro Manila Mayors league will be meeting to tackle among many things, the proposal of the MMDA to resurrect the full-blown vehicle reduction scheme along EDSA.

I humbly request any and all sympathetic Mayors attending said meeting, to please place a wooden stake on said proposal, hammer it and kill it! Then lay it to rest and cremate it with extreme prejudice.

I don’t know who deserves the title “Dr. Frankenstein” for this idea, but the scheme has certainly created a tidal wave of anger and objection. So even before the MMDA proposes to exhume this bad idea, the Mayors should simply pour gasoline on the proposal and torch it.

I personally have always been a staunch supporter of the MMDA, but I will not support a very bad idea that was already proven a bad idea before, and does not require a rocket scientist to debate it. The reason this bad idea was buried before was because it caused the public such cruel and unusual punishment.

Twenty years later, reviving the idea goes beyond being a waste of time. Personally I am suspicious and wonder if the idea is simply an ODD decision or simply an evil scheme?

As I pointed out, I find it ODD that the MMDA would revive what was deemed a failure. With so many other possible solutions, why does the MMDA choose one that got a failing grade and one that would ultimately hurt the ones they claim they want to help? This is what makes it ODD.

However, what makes me suspicious of the idea is the sequence of events that has led to the problem.

We all agree that traffic flow on EDSA has deteriorated in recent months. Statistics also show that there has been an over abundance of buses on EDSA causing a situation where you have a disproportionate number of empty seats than riding passengers.

Last month there was an alarming increase in the number of accidents involving passenger buses. In the last two months there has been an increased demand for the removal of “colorum” or illegal buses and AUVs in Metro Manila.

In the same period, two members of Congress submitted a proposed bill that would require bus operators to pay salaries and not commission to their drivers to stop drivers from blocking other buses and killing people on the highway.

So, the MMDA officials met with the bus operators for the purpose of solving the problem.

As a result, the MMDA announced their plan to resurrect their “Frankenstein scheme” and punish private vehicle car owners because there are so many cars and they cause the problem!

First and foremost, private vehicle owners pay the largest amount of taxes in terms of tax on cars, sales tax, fuel tax, road users tax and income tax. We already make sacrifices due to the “number coding scheme” which disallows us full use and pleasure from our vehicles. We pay parking fees repeatedly and use our cars for personal transport and not for business.

So what justification does the MMDA have to target private car owners FIRST?

The problem as I remember started with colorum buses. What has been done about it? Did the government burn them? Were they decommissioned? NO. The government collected money by fines and let them go to commit the same crime all over so the MMDA can collect fines again. Why burn when you can earn a commission, right?

Did the MMDA turn over any report or files to the BIR and the LTFRB and Customs in order to determine, when the buses were imported or sold? When did the current owners take possession of the buses?

Use that date as the start for charging them with falsification of public documents, illegal use and operation of a public transport, endangering the riding public with an uninsured vehicle, tax evasion, and economic sabotage.

If the authorities and lawmakers really wanted to throw the book at illegal bus operators, we know that operating a “colorum bus” is not and should not be treated as a mere traffic violation.

So many private car owners find their cars impounded or towed just for “Illegal parking” or violating the number coding scheme. So why are people in the MMDA, LTO, LTFRB, Highway Patrol, BIR and even Congress going easy on them?

The MMDA claims that things have changed since 20 years ago and cited that we now have the MRT to ease the burden of commuters. Then why is the MMDA afraid to start with a BUS reduction scheme first?

What magic potion did the MMDA people drink in their meeting with bus operators that suddenly made them betray the interest of taxpayers over a group that has repeatedly fought off any attempt of government regulation and has a history of violating the transport and tax laws.

At the very least prove us wrong. The MMDA should first try their ODD/EVEN Scheme on Buses, go to the Department of Labor and demand that the operators be required to follow the law and pay regular salaries to drivers and conductors, and decommission all illegal buses on EDSA for a period of at least six months.

In addition, the MMDA should also check on itself, its personnel and their engineering solutions. After Chairman Bayani Fernando left the post certain solutions were modified. The question is, were those modifications correct or did they make things worse?

I sincerely believe in the MMDA as well as its current crop of leaders. They simply have to be reminded of whom they serve. “Sino ba talaga ang boss n’yo?”