Metro Manila traffic crisis

The Me t ro Ma - nila traffic crisis has reached the level of national security concern requiring the help of every government agency and the cooperation of the public.

This week’s Kapihan sa Manila

Bay breakfast forum focused on air and land traffic problems in the country, especially around Metro Manila. Our guests last Wednesday included Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) “acting” chairman Tomas “Tim” Orbos, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Ed Monreal and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) deputy director-general Capt. Manuel Antonio “Skee” Tamayo.

The three officials credited the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for demonstrating political will to address the problem of traffic congestion in land and on air, basically due to lack of infrastructure support. At the start of his office, President Duterte asked the 17th Congress to grant him emergency powers to solve the traffic crisis through the construction of additional mass transport system, new roads, airport improvement and other facilities to ease the transport of people, goods and services among other measures.

A retired commercial pilot, Tamayo disclosed there is shorter flight disruptions whenever the President flies, when heads of state arrive or during any special activity at NAIA. Flight disruptions at NAIA used to take almost an hour, causing much flight delay. Capt. Tamayo used to fly for the Philippines Airlines before President Duterte named him at the CAAP.

Upon the directive of President Duterte, flight disruptions had been reduced, if not limited. This is because, Tamayo explained, President Duterte, who travels every weekend for his rest day in Davao City, did away with the requirements of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) to stop all flights to give way to the President’s plane to take off or to land. The average disruption time, in fact, has gone down to as short as three minutes, which was achieved during the three-day state visit here of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week.

Tamayo happily reported to us that they had repaired the Instrument Landing System that assists pilots in night landing. However, he admitted, they are still fixing the interference problem from cell sites. For his part, Monreal announced plans to fully transform NAIA-2 or the Centennial Terminal either for purely domestic or international flights. PAL planes for both international and domestic flights are exclusively using NAIA-2. Monreal said MIAA had set for public bidding the construction of the Rapid Exit Taxiway that will speed up takeoff and landing of planes at NAIA.

The P320-million project has been in the pipeline in the past four years, he said. Monreal, who rose from the ranks at MIAA, said, the project which had gathered dust, is now frontloaded as a priority project of the Duterte administration.

On the proposal to restore the name of the airport to its original name MIA, Monreal said the name is not an issue to him if it will help improve the stature of the country’s premier airport. What matter most, he pointed out, are the people who work and serve at NAIA to remove it from the list of “worst” airports in global travelers’ surveys.

The MMDA chief, for his part, announced his plans to make use of the available road spaces to ease traffic jams along Roxas Boulevard. Orbos pointed to the “service road” that runs parallel to Roxas Boulevard. He bewailed that the “service road” has become a private parking area by establishments in front of them.

He said the MMDA has discussed with city governments officials of Manila and Pasay and the owners of the establishments and notified them about the MMDA plan to use and transform the “service roads” as special three lanes for either trucks or private cars to de-clog Roxas Boulevard.

He admitted though that it would be tough to negotiate with the embassies of the US and Japan, both of which are located along the service road. “Give me until March,” Orbos said.

Orbos likewise disclosed that the MMDA would “outsource” around 300 traffic enforcers as multiplier force to its undermanned traffic enforcement personnel. The ideal number of traffic enforcers should be at least 5,000 to man and manage the traffic flow, he said. Sadly though, the MMDA could only deploy around 2,300 traffic enforcers each day all over Metro Manila.

To underscore that MMDA traffic enforcers are spread thinly, Orbos said 600 traffic enforcers work in three shifts to ensure the flow of traffic in the 24-kilometer stretch of EDSA in Quezon City. Orbos, making mental calculation, said there are 100 MMDA traffic enforcers per shift spread out in the whole stretch of EDSA.

Add this to the fact, he said, that there are five to six lanes at some point of the highway with 6,000 vehicles running per lane. The Philippine National Police (PNP) Highway Patrol Group has been helping the MMDA in traffic enforcement along EDSA.

Incidentally, the MMDA chief remembered coming across a health study that claimed traffic enforcers could only be exposed to air pollution for four hours or they will succumb to carbon dioxide suffocation. This is not to mention the long-term impact of air pollution to the human body.

As officer-in-charge of the MMDA, Orbos said he is authorized to hire manpower agencies to provide the personnel who will undergo training as traffic enforcers in the metropolis. The “outsourced” personnel, Orbos explained, would be deployed along with MMDA enforcers to man traffic-prone areas on a 24/7 basis. “We also have coordinated with several volunteer groups for the purpose of augmenting our traffic force,” he added.

Orbos likewise sought the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the agency’s road clearing operations. Orbos refused to go into details, citing past incidents when MMDA personnel were killed and injured during road clearing operations.

The MMDA has entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) that has committed around 300 firemen-volunteers to go after illegally parked vehicles. This is to remove obstruction to the free flow of vehicles, especially in case of emergency like fire and accidents.

The Metro Manila traffic crisis has reached the level of national security concern requiring the help of every government agency and the cooperation of the public.