Unplanned

As things stand, Metro Manila is already the poster boy of urban chaos. Traffic flow is choked, roads are used for parking, trains are badly maintained and building codes routinely ignored.

Next May, we should seal our status as an urban center where things are unplanned and whim is the rule. For two years, Edsa will be excavated, repaved and basically reduced as a thoroughfare.

This is not just another road in a metropolis where precious little road space has been added in decades. It is the main metropolitan traffic artery conveying hundreds of thousands of vehicles each day. Shutting down portions of this avenue will create monstrous jams everywhere.

The authorities mislead the public with loud claims about 52 roads that will provide alternative routes when the Edsa facelift begins. They conveniently forget to mention that all these roads are jammed as they are even with Edsa fully operational. They cannot possibly absorb the overflow from Edsa when the reconstruction begins. Much less can they absorb the movement of cement mixers and gravel trucks and all the equipment the road crews will need.

There is no question Edsa is in dire need of rehabilitation, notwithstanding all the “re-blocking” that has been going on for years. It is a terrible road peppered with cracks and potholes jarring our vehicles even when the road allows us to traverse it only at a crawl.

However, any work on Edsa requires careful planning. It should be done only after certain other things are completed. These are:

1. Complete the Nlex-Slex connector road. This has been much talked about although nothing has really happened. If work on this connector road commences while Edsa is being repaired, the metropolis might as well be shut down.

2. Close the LRT-MRT loop. The rail connection was completed three years ago, in record time — but  powerful interests seem to have blocked the construction of the connecting terminal at the North Avenue junction.

3. Triple the coach capacity of all the commuter rail lines, especially the MRT. In addition, replace the worn out wheels of the existing coaches. Only this will bring the commuting public a viable alternative to using Edsa road space.

4. Upgrade the radials. The roads radiating out of the City of Manila are in worse shape that Edsa, choked by parked vehicles and pedicabs. These roads can be repaired one at a time without the huge disruption of shutting down Edsa.

5. Cancel or suspend the franchises of at least half the buses plying the Edsa route. Metro Manila is the only major urban center where bus lines compete with, rather than complement, the commuter rail line.

6. Collect the hundreds of scrap vehicles littering the sidestreets. In addition, thousands of jeepneys regularly park on the streets, having no proper terminals or parking lots.

Only after all these things are done should we even dare constrict Edsa, even in its present state of disrepair. As things stand, we are putting the cart before the horse.

The chaos will cost our economy heavily. Millions of barrels of imported oil will be wasted in traffic jams. Tens of millions of workdays will be wasted. The incidence of road rage will probably spike.

And to think the rehab of Edsa will be entirely cosmetic. Not a single square meter of new road space will be created. We do not deserve the pain faulty planning will inflict.

Literacy

BSP figures show that credit card debts jumped 13% to P137 billion in June 2012 from the P121.2 billion in June 2011. The trend, in all likelihood, continues this year.

Credit card debt rising at twice the rate of our economic growth deserves a closer look. All the anecdotes about the brusque behavior of collectors hired by the credit card companies seem to indicate that defaults could be rising. Many of those who use credit cards seem unaware of the steep charges imposed on delayed payments.

The credit card companies, to be sure, have not been wanting in encouraging consumers to use their cards to the max. The zero-interest installment plans featured by several card companies applies only when the payments due are paid on time. After that, the interest charges climb to nearly usurious levels.

The next financial meltdown may be due to a large credit card debt overhang than to any banking failure. Appropriate risk management measures may be used to reduce this possibility. Just as urgently, the financial literacy of our people needs as dramatic improvement so that they understand, at the very least, that credit card debt is very expensive money.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara filed HB 490 (The Financial Literacy Act) aiming to incorporate financial literacy in the basic school curriculum. The bill has its merits. It will help raise the ability of our citizens to properly manage their personal finances. In an increasingly financial world, the value of this cannot be underestimated.

A financially aware citizenry is indispensable to the optimal performance of a modern economy. This is not just about managing personal credit card debt. It is about encouraging our people to invest, thereby widening the base for capital formation our economy so direly needs.

Ultimately, in a modern financial economy, the prudential behavior of each citizen is the foundation for sustained growth. Every citizen must ideally be financially independent, expertly managing not just spending but also saving and investing. A financially literate people is the best safeguard against pyramiding scams.

A graduate of the prestigious London School of Economics, Angara understands the virtue of mass-based financial literacy.