Gov’t urged to relocate agencies to ease metro traffic

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

To help address the worsening traffic condition in the country, the government should build more infrastructures outside Metro Manila and relocate some agencies to other regions, Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said on Friday.

Cayetano said the best way to relieve traffic jams in the metropolis is to allocate more funds that would kickstart the development of local economies in provinces outside the National Capital Region (NCR).

“The solution to Metro Manila traffic problem is not to build more infrastructures inside NCR, but to build more outside the city,” he said in a statement.

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He said he would file a bill that seeks to establish a Philippine Decentralization Committee (PDC), which will study and determine specific programs aimed at enhancing the delivery of goods and services in the countryside, including the relocation of several agencies to other regions.

Among the agencies that may be moved to other regions are the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Department of Energy (DoE), said the senator.

Cayetano said Dole may be transferred to the Ilocos Region (Region I), which has the second highest unemployment rate in 2015, while the DoT may be relocated to tourist haven Cebu in Central Visayas (Region VII) and the DoE to the Caraga Region (Region XIII), which he said is known for its abundant renewable energy sources.

The senator also proposed the establishment of a reliable and efficient Luzon-wide transportation system, which will pave the way for the construction of an integrated railway system, high-standard highways, and strategically-located airports, seaports, and land transport stations in provinces all over Luzon.

“I pushed for a long-term and a more feasible solution and that is to create alternative corridors of development outside NCR (National Capital Region). This will not only resolve traffic jams in the already overcrowded capital, but will also extend growth throughout the rest of the country,” he said.

President Benigno Aquino III has recently designated the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) to lead the enforcement of traffic rules and ease the congestion in six “choke points” along Edsa. Maila Ager/IDL