The real battle of Katipunan

The real battle of Katipunan happens every school day as students, office workers and truck drivers race against time and against each other, as they find themselves stuck in the gridlocked avenue.

The morning rush hour along the stretch in front of Miriam College and Ateneo de Manila University is the most monstrous of all and of all the days, Monday mornings are the gates of hell.

As someone who studied high school in Miriam more than a decade ago, I had experienced getting stuck in traffic nearly everyday back then. Things have changed now, but only for the worse.

I was just on the gridlocked road this morning and it really escapes me why the problem remains unresolved all these years.

One reason for the traffic is the presence of hulking trucks in Katipunan around the same time when it’s rush hour for students. Trucks coming from the northern provinces no doubt make the southbound five-lane Katipunan Avenue chaotic in the morning.

Just this morning, for instance, two big trucks broke down along Katipunan in front of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. This brought traffic to a halt.

The trucks should be banned during morning rush hour and not just the six-wheeler trucks but even the smaller ones.

Says a letter sender:

“Tukod or snail pace is the name for the traffic mess in these streets bordering UP, Miriam and Ateneo. From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. here, when kids are delivered to their schools, traffic is really slow. The volume of passing vehicles has increased significantly since pandemic times. It takes one hour to traverse that two-kilometer stretch. Southbound traffic in the Katipunan/Tandang Sora area stretches all the way to Congressional Avenue Extension.

“Before COVID-19, we had a truck ban, so no six-wheeler and above trucks were allowed on Katipunan Ave from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and then again 4 to 9 p.m. It seems this policy has been changed.”

Elevated roads

It’s good that tycoons Manuel V. Pangilinan and Ramon S. Ang are considering putting up an elevated road that would traverse Katipunan to hopefully resolve the congestion.

“He (Ang) has ideas (for new road projects). For example, we talked about how congested the traffic was along Commonwealth Avenue and C-5 and Katipunan. So I said, ‘I think we should build an elevated road to connect Mindanao Avenue all the way to C-5’,” Pangilinan said in a recent chat in his office.

The two tycoons, who plan to build a tollways giant, also want to build an elevated road along EDSA, calling it EDSA II.

These are good ideas which, hopefully, could lead to better traffic flow in Metro Manila.

Other reasons

Back to the traffic in Katipunan, there are other reasons for the congestion of course and it’s not just the trucks.

The two big schools along Katipunan have not been able to resolve the traffic problem even inside their respective campuses. It’s crazy.

Residents of the exclusive subdivisions surrounding the schools have given very little access to those entering and leaving Miriam and Ateneo, caring only for their children’s seamless access to the two schools.

The commercial establishments and residential condominiums with all their shops on the ground floor – but with not enough parking –also make Katipunan Avenue really chaotic at times.

I hope that enough attention will be given to this area so that this vital campus district will be a more livable and harmonious place for students for them to study, thrive and grow.

DFA responds

Last January, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement on my column, “Permits, visas for sale” which was published earlier that month.

Says the DFA:

“The Department of Foreign Affairs does not tolerate nor condone acts of corruption in its visa and consular services at Philippine Foreign Service Posts.

“Integral to its quality policy, the DFA takes allegations of extortion and other illicit activities in its visa processes seriously.

“Systems are in place to safeguard the visa issuance process, including the conduct of a timely and thorough investigation to check the veracity of the report.

“The DFA reaffirms its commitment to excellence in public service and continuous improvement in its consular services.

“The DFA closely communicates with its Foreign Service Posts and stakeholders in the tourism and security sectors in enhancing its mandate to issue entry visas and resolving complaints.”

Now that this has been brought to the attention of our DFA, I hope we don’t hear of such shameless acts anymore.

In my Jan. 7 column, I wrote about embassy workers from a Philippine embassy abroad extorting money from foreign nationals applying for a visa to go to the Philippines.

Workers from this Philippine embassy were asking P40,000 from each visa applicant. This is on top of the standard visa fee and the applicants were told that if they don’t pay, their visa application will not be facilitated.

Some of the victims are Chinese nationals and some of them are here in the Philippines because they decided to just pay the P40,000, rather than not have their visa processed.

Days and weeks after, readers also shared with me similar horror stories.

Moving forward, I really hope this and similar extortion activities come to an end.

We cannot be asking the world to Love the Philippines when we can’t even get this problem fixed.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen (Iris Gonzales) on Facebook.