Here’s one public official who’s actually doing something about the traffic mess: Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez is opening to the public roads in several private subdivisions in the city before the Christmas season. Inspired by neighboring Las Piñas, the “friendship routes” of Parañaque will ease traffic in the city’s main thoroughfares.
The roads in the gated villages are in fact open to anyone – for a fee, which can be up to P1,500 a year for non-residents. Even residents have to pay several hundred pesos a year for vehicle passes from their homeowners’ associations. The millions collected go to private security guards for the subdivision. The money is also expected to go to street lighting, road maintenance, cleanliness programs and civic activities.
The performance of these tasks by many homeowners’ associations has been disappointing, with the local government still called in to improve roads, enhance street lighting and keep premises clean. Private security guards watch out for vehicles without stickers at the gates but can’t effectively secure the subdivisions. Vehicles without stickers are allowed to enter for an average fee of P20. Burglaries continue, sometimes with the connivance of the guards themselves. Drive-by shootings and numerous murders have been committed in the gated villages.
Since city hall collects taxes and even garbage collection fees while barangays collect numerous fees for parking and various commercial activities, the local government should keep the public safe and provide good roads and clean surroundings to all, without people needing to pay additional sums to homeowners’ associations.
Gated villages can still keep peripheral streets closed to non-residents. Opening certain subdivision roads to the public will not only ease traffic but also boost private property prices in the gated villages as well as stimulate economic activity. This has been seen in Makati, where the local government went to court to compel homeowners in some of the most expensive gated villages to open a few main roads to the public.
Lawmakers, if they want to contribute to easing the traffic mess in Metro Manila, can review the decades-old law governing private gated subdivisions turned over by the developer to the homeowners’ association. The law has served as a basis for the collection of various fees by homeowners’ associations from households and motorists, adding to the already high costs of the daily drive within Metro Manila.
In the meantime, local officials in other parts of the metropolis should also consider opening subdivision streets. There is hardly any room for building new roads in Metro Manila, but there are existing ones just waiting to be put to wider public use.