No solution to traffic mess yet

The traffic nightmare in Metro Manila will not just go away as long as different government instrumentalities do not get their act together.

The House joint committees on Transportation and Metro Manila Development the other day approved a draft resolution urging the city of Manila to implement a three-month moratorium on the truck ban in the face of mounting economic losses.

The House resolution, while laudable, does not carry the weight of a legislation and cannot be enforced. But the message to Manila is clear—the truck ban has not eased traffic as originally intended and has worsened the problem with the ensuing port congestion.

Sadly, Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno does not see the havoc created by the truck ban on the economy and refuses to recognize the statistics that go against the merits of the local ordinance.

Manila’s ports, prior to the truck ban on February 24 this year, could move out 5,000 20-foot equivalent units or container vans a day. With the truck ban, only 3,500 vans could leave the ports. Some 1,500 container vans, according to Philippine Ports Authority general manager Juan Sta. Ana Sta. Ana, had been left daily at the ports until they accumulated to 99,000 in three months.

Sta. Ana said the backlog at the ports dropped from 1,500 to 800 container vans a day after Manila revised its ordinance to add two more hours to the window period and allow the trucks carrying empty vans to travel.

Truckers, meanwhile, could make 5,500 trips daily before the truck ban until these were reduced to 2,000 trips per 24 hours by the ban. Alberto Suansing, executive director of the Confederation of Truckers’ Association Philippines, said the truck ban had not eased traffic but, instead, resulted in a “national nightmare with the whole nation getting affected by the traffic in Manila.”

The House committee, meanwhile, noted that the port congestion and traffic had cost the economy P450 billion in six months and added to the cost of transporting basic commodities, which were being passed on to consumers.

Local and national officials and lawmakers will always blame each other for the traffic mess and port congestion. But unless they become more serious in fixing the problem and go beyond defending their turf, the traffic situation can only get worse. –Manila Standard Today