Traffic-free Metro Manila? Senate hears dream plan

The Senate on Monday heard a “dream plan” to get rid of the traffic gridlock, but with the Cabinet secretaries snubbing the hearing, there was no other solution offered to the nightmare bedeviling Metro Manila.

“Five years ago, I can remember this thing. Until now it is still a plan. At the rate all of these agencies are moving, this will remain a dream,” Sen. JV Ejercito said during a joint hearing of the committees on economic affairs and public works on the traffic mess.

Ejercito, chair of the economic affairs panel, lamented the absence of the heads of the agencies, saying that he might cite them for contempt should they again fail to attend next Monday’s hearing.

The secretaries of the Departments of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Finance, Trade and Industry, and the Interior and Local Government were invited to the hearing.

Also invited were the heads of the National Economic Development Authority, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Land Transportation Office.

Most of the agencies sent representatives, which irked Ejercito.

“I was hoping that the gravity of the problem that we are discussing would merit their attention,” he said. “We’re not fooling each other here.”

MMDA official Corazon Jimenez presented the “Dream Plan” crafted by the DOTC and the DPWH, entailing the setting up of public utility bus (PUB) terminals at North and South Metro Manila. While a bus terminal has been established in the south, its counterpart in the north still has no location.

Just ‘panaginip’

Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the public works committee, asked what “Dream” stood for.

“It is just panaginip,” Jimenez said, smiling.

“We want to see this moving… . Some dreams do not come true. We want to make sure each step is accomplished,” Aquino said, referring to the long gestation period of the infrastructure project of 20 to 30 years. The Dream Plan is targeting 2030.

Only Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chair Winston Ginez attended the hearing.

Ginez presented one solution to the traffic woes, which came up at a meeting with President Aquino: “Maximum people throughout Edsa (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue) by giving priority to high-capacity volume vehicles.”

Simply stated, put more PUBs on Edsa. This, he said, was based on the latest MMDA data, where all PUBs were limited to 13,374 trips in 24 hours along Edsa. Out of 3,385 city buses and 8,471 provincial buses, only 1,500 ply Edsa.

“The number of city buses plying Edsa is still inadequate as of now,” Ginez pointed out, adding that Edsa can accommodate 2,000 PUBs at a time.

The use of the yellow lane, he said, should enable buses to make a quick turnaround and pick up commuters.

No sacred cows

Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao, head of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), said Monday during a hearing of the House committee on Metro Manila development that the HPG would strictly enforce traffic rules on Edsa and its side streets.

Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo, the committee chair, asked Gunnacao if his men would dare flag down erring drivers of vehicles with the No. “8” license plates reserved for House members.

“Yes, sir, if they violate the traffic laws, we will apprehend them,” was Gunnacao’s swift and unhesitating reply.

He said the HPG gave only warnings to motorists on the first day of its takeover of Edsa on Monday. But starting Tuesday, he said, the HPG would apprehend violators, except those granted exemptions by the MMDA.

HPG focus

Gunnacao said the HPG’s “semblance of authority” was its main advantage over MMDA enforcers who were routinely ignored or sometimes attacked by hard-headed motorists.

“The HPG can arrest violators and jail them while the MMDA can only issue tickets,” he said.

Gunnacao said the HPG’s focus for the rest of this week would be the side streets leading to Edsa. He said the HPG would seek the authority from local government units to apprehend drivers who use streets as parking lots.

He cited the case of La Salle Green Hills. “If and when we’re given the authority, we’ll be issuing tickets to parents who will be waiting for their kids but use Ortigas Avenue as their parking space because that’s not supposed to be a waiting area,” Gunnacao said.

In a television interview, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said the claim that there were too many buses on Edsa was just a “myth,” pointing out that commuters were still having problems getting a ride during rush hours. Jeannette I. Andrade and Gil C. Cabacungan