INCOMPETENCE AND POWERFUL BUSINESS AND POLITICAL INTERESTS
Gross incompetence is one obvious reason why the MRT and the LRT systems have not been operated efficiently, and why these have not been expanded over the years, well ahead of the overcrowding of Metro Manila’s streets and highways.
But the harsh fact is that powerful business and political interests would have blocked any well-meaning efforts of competent managers to do a good job.
The vicious tug- of- war between oligarchs over the location of the MRT-LRT common station in the vicinity of Ayala’s TriNoma mall and SM City North EDSA is but one glaring example of these powerful business and political interests are work.
If you were to go over all of the major infrastructure projects and business opportunities in our hapless Republic, the same names will emerge. They control the economy and the politicians who make the final decisions.
The memorandum of agreement between the business groups is a “win-win” solution to a problem that would have given either SM or the Ayala group, a major advantage in terms of cornering the light railway passenger traffic at the end of EDSA. A win for both of them. But what about the poor commuters?
An interesting question asked by mischievous pundits is, if Noynoy Aquino were not president and Mar Roxas were not in his various positions of power, would the Ayala group have succeeded in blocking SM Prime Holding’s preemption of the location of the common MRT- LRT station at North EDSA?
The next obvious question is, what other business opportunities and potential monopolies will be subjected to the same tug-of-war among these corporate giants?
The officials manning the various departments in government are impotent in the face of the money and political clout of these oligarchs. Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade can come up with “solutions” to the Metro Manila traffic problem, like being given “vast emergency powers,” JICA can recommend such ambitious projects as a subway system, and Congress can legislate laws to address the “Traffic Crisis,” but the bottom line is, unless these business and political moguls are assured their respective pounds of flesh, we will always witness the kind of tug-of-war that characterized the plans for the North EDSA “Grand Central Station.”
In addition to that, of course, is the incompetence and graft that will accompany the operation of the proposed subway system. If these idiots can’t efficiently operate the MRT and LRT, are we to believe that they can properly run a subway system?
Now, who has the power to stop this vicious scramble for economic supremacy for the sake of the Filipino people? And who has the responsibility for appointing people who can perform with competence and efficiency?
The obvious answer is President Rodrigo Duterte. But will he?
Or will he be too busy solving the crisis in Mindanao and going after drug suspects to attend to problems that may be beyond his competence? And will he prefer to enjoy his fantastic approval ratings?