First, the Palace apologized for the state of the MRT. Then, over the weekend, the Palace apologized for the horrendous traffic jam at the NLEX last Friday.
It is as if that by apologizing the problems will melt away. Or, more precisely, wished away.
The evidence, however, is that the problems are not only worsening, they are converging. For instance, in order to move out the accumulated volume of cargo at the Port of Manila, rules regarding the truck ban will be relaxed over the next two weeks. This will result in clogging all of Metro Manila’s streets, making movement all the more traumatic for the 12 million residents of this God-forsaken place.
Should the commuter trains continue breaking down, there will be hell for all commuters. Brace for the worst.
It might have been more comforting if Malacanang’s apologies came with a comprehensive plan of action. We see none — other than the postponement of digging here and the installation of zip lanes there.
In the wake of last Friday’s traffic nightmare, business groups decried the fact that no one seemed to be in charge. There was the usual finger-pointing among government agencies. No one seemed ready to take responsibility.
Meanwhile, the businessmen reminded the Palace, our productivity is taking a major hit. The logistical nightmare is inflicting enormous losses. This will push up prices for all consumers. What a happy Christmas we will all have!
Next year, we will be hosting the APEC summit here in Manila. All the leaders coming here will see for themselves the gates of hell. By that time, we will have rotating blackouts and, very likely, water shortages. It is a good time as any to have rioting in the streets.
We have a transport crisis staring at us, strangling the metropolis. Yet government does not seem ready to acknowledge that.
Smug
When President Aquino was asked last year about the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, he gave us a smug reply. The traffic, he said, demonstrates our economic progress.
That was not just smug, that was contemptuous. Besides it was completely wrong. The snarled traffic flow was the tip of the iceberg of infrastructure deficits.
His most correct response to the concern about urban vehicular movement might have been to assume personal responsibility for the problem, take the matter by the horns and put together a comprehensive plan for upgrading infra. That would have been out of character, however.
A few days ago, Palace spokesman Sonny Coloma was asked about the congestion at the ports. Like his boss, and like a complete clone, Coloma smugly replied that this is an indicator of our economy’s progress.
It was not even a reply. It was a contemptuous quip, an attempt to spin a bad thing and make it appear like a good thing. All it tells us is that this administration considers every problem a matter of propaganda.
Meanwhile, the Port of Manila was choked with containers. Shipping companies, unable to unload at the Manila port, were dumping thousands of Philippine-bound containers in Hong Kong. Our factories were running short of raw materials and our hospitals short of vital medical supplies.
We have a logistics time-bomb in our hands and the Aquino administration was trying to finesse it away with blatant propaganda. Last Friday’s snarl was just the first explosion.
While we wait for the entire Mega Manila area to bog down, Palace propagandists are happily talking about the credit upgrades — which are really about the foreign currency reserves we are accumulating and not about forward-looking management of the economy. They are like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Intercepted
Sen. Nancy Binay discovered that among the funds intercepted, converted into savings and disbursed as additional pork (allegedly to help convict Chief Justice Corona) was a P4.5 billion appropriation for the upgrade of the MRT. That money might have gone a long way to spare commuters the cruel and unusual punishment of riding the rail service these days.
Clearly, Aquino and his man Butch Abad did not consider upgrading the MRT an urgent matter — or at least not as urgent as extracting Justice Corona from the Court. Because they did not upgrade the MRT when they needed to, the commuter rail line is now the decrepit and dangerous service it had become.
Had this administration understood the importance of building Northrail, last Friday’s horror might not have happened. It would be a simple matter of extending the rails to the port, enabling containers to be taken out of the city on flatbeds.
Manila is probably the only city in the world where there is no rail service to take out cargo from the port. Instead we use scarce city streets to roll out cargo on large container vans. The port congestion translates into road congestion.
If this administration acted promptly on the NLEX-SLEX connector road, it would be operational by now. That would have taken a substantial load off Edsa.
If this administration did not whimsically junk the Belgian-assisted Laguna Lake project, we would have had both a dike and a circumferential road by now. What we have, instead, is an international arbitration case where we will pay out billions for nothing.
If this administration did not so stupidly junk the French-assisted port modernization project, we would have had added options for moving cargo by now. Instead, we have a pile-up at the piers.
This administration showed no foresight in anticipating our logistical needs and no sense of urgency in closing the infra gap. Our choked and flooded streets will be its lasting legacy.