Traffic jams prompt resolution seeking Senate review of tollway contracts

TOLL HOLIDAY A public safety division employee of Valenzuela City informs motorists passing through the Mindanao Avenue toll booth that Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian has suspended the business permit of the North Expressway operator due to its faulty implementation of the electronic toll collection system. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian is pressing for accountability of toll road operators by asking the Senate to review the concession agreements these companies had signed with the government amid chaos on the turnpikes caused by a badly managed shift to an electronic toll collection system.

In a resolution he filed on Monday, Gatchalian also asked the Senate to review the powers and functions of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the agency that regulates tollway operation and which has come under public criticism for its failure to get the toll road operators to solve the problems with the new fee collection system that have been the cause of the daily vehicular congestion on the expressways.

“There is a need to review the concession agreements of existing tollway operators to check if the operation of their toll collection system conforms to the minimum standard specifications for operations and maintenance under toll operations certificate or agreement,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Tuesday.

Public interest

Under Presidential Decree 1112, which established the TRB, the agency has powers to grant authority for toll operation and issue the toll operation certificate, Gatchalian said. It may also amend, modify, or revoke that authorization “whenever public interest so requires,” he added.

With no end in sight to the congestion on the North Luzon Expressway, the Valenzuela City local government on Monday suspended the business permit of the tollway operator, NLEx Corp., which had apologized to the public for the inconvenience but failed to keep the traffic running.

The suspension of NLEx Corp.’s business permit enabled the local government to throw the toll plaza open, allowing traffic from both directions to go through without interruption—easing the congestion.

Gatchalian said the TRB should impose a “toll holiday” after NLEx Corp. admitted flaws in its rapid frequency identification (RFID) system, including malfunctioning sensors whose failure to read toll codes caused traffic knots at the gates and consequently tie-ups on the turnpike.

NLEx Corp. senior vice president for communications Romulo Quimbo conceded that defective sensors were partly to blame for the congestion on the expressway, but he promised that his company would solve the problems in the coming days.

The company sought “amicable and cooperative initiatives” with the Valenzuela government on Tuesday, but Mayor Rex Gatchalian, a brother of Senator Gatchalian, told the tollway operator not to “turn the table to make others look like the aggressor.”

“The [local government] had to step in to protect the riding public from your incompetence,” Gatchalian said in a post on Twitter. “Do not pretend that you are the victim or the public interest defender here! Precisely we got to this point because you victimized and took for granted your customers!”

‘Highway robbery’

In a statement, NLEx Corp. president Luigi Bautista said the company would take “several measures to resolve the Valenzuela issue” and protect its customers and the public.

But Gatchalian said the tollway operator had “diminished the value” of its customers with its “incompetence.”

“This Highway Robbery Scheme has to stop. You do not take our money from our pockets in broad daylight only to not deliver safe, reliable and efficient toll services,” the mayor said.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) imposed the electronic toll collection requirement on the tollway operators to curb the spread of the new coronavirus that causes the severe respiratory disease COVID-19.

But motorists have complained about the failure of the TRB, which is overseen by the DOTr, to require a common electronic collection system. Currently motorists are registered with Autosweep, operated by San Miguel Tollways Corp., and Easytrip, run by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.

Autosweep is used on Metro Manila Skyway, South Luzon Expressway, Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road Tollway, Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway.

Easytrip is used on NLEx, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Manila-Cavite Expressway, and Cavite-Laguna Expressway.

Kilometerslong tailbacks

In suspending NLEx Corp. on Monday, the Valenzuela local government showed drone footage of kilometerslong tailbacks at Malinta and at the Smart Connect interchange caused by malfunctioning sensors and installation of RFID stickers on vehicles.

“These malfunctioning RFID sensors and installation of RFID stickers [have] exacerbated the already dismal traffic situation [on] the tollways and nearby roads since the start of the shift to a purely cashless toll collection system,” Mayor Gatchalian said.

—With a report from Mariejo S. Ramos