2 senators push for efficient mass transit system
Two lady senators – Cynthia A. Villar and Grace Poe – said yesterday the solution to the chaotic traffic problem in Metro Manila is the installation of an efficient mass transit system.
If not, people would be forced to buy new cars and this would add more problems not only to the people but to the economy as well, she said.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito earlier said some 30,000 new vehicles are purchased every month and these add to the misery of commuters.
A study of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) showed a loss of 13.5 billion in production daily throughout the country attributed to the current chaotic traffic mess.
As chairwoman of the Senate environment and natural resources committee, Villar also pushed for the establishment of businesses outside of the metropolitan Manila area whose population keeps on expanding.
Villar, mother of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar, said the DPWH should also build, among others, bypass roads all over the country so that inter-provincial vehicles, if not necessary, do not have to enter the city or other heavily built up areas.
To lessen traffic, government should find alternative ways such as the building of wide roads within the metropolitan area such as the road traversing the Alabang-Zapote corridor.
She, likewise, stressed the need for Congress to pass the proposed Emergency Powers Act for the President to build with minimum bureaucratic hindrances.
In order to address this worsening traffic, Poe, chairwoman of the Senate public services committee, said the government should also: Build alternative roads and bridges; pursue innovative technological traffic management solutions; NS develop economic centers outside of Metro Manila in order to decongest it.
“But all of these cannot be done without a well-thought out plan that can only be carried out effectively through coordination between the national and local government units,’’ Poe said.
“This can be achieved if we pass the emergency powers bill, which I filed and ispending in the Senate.
There is a need to grant extraordinary powers, because current laws do not adequately provide for the means to expeditiously and effectively solve this traffic and congestion crisis. Some laws even create roadblocks to acting promptly,’’ she added.
Poe said the bill should have passed already but is being hindered by extended debates.
“Though the President initially asked for emergency powers, he said later on that he does not need it. This sent mixed signals to members of the House and the Senate,’’ she explained.
Because of the President’s influence and popularity, the bills he explicitly mentioned to prioritize like the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act could hurdle Congress rather quickly, she said
“We are in a war against traffic; but if the people who will receive such emergency powers will categorically say that the powers are an ammunition they no longer need, then the onus of solving it falls solely and squarely on them,’’ Poe stressed.