Streets as public toilets

Divisoria has officially turned into a squatters colony of vendors and its streets are now the equivalent of public toilets. The same goes for the Banawe commercial district in Quezon City where most of Metro Manila buy their car parts and accessories. 

While Mayor Joseph Estrada has been busy fighting off bus companies and truckers, illegal vendors have literally taken over the streets of the Divisoria district, occupying 60 to 70% of road space to the extent that even pedestrians no longer have sidewalks and are stuck when delivery vans unload goods because there is no space to get through.

While one can tolerate the culture of congestion and street vendors, yesterday’s experience was disturbing because one could see and smell pools of urine along the gutters particularly on Tabora Street and the adjacent streets. I doubt very much if the battle for space and order against the illegal vendors can ever be won, but perhaps Mayor Estrada can adopt the pink or white line approach that was used by Bayani Fernando and Mayors of other cities in their struggle against illegal parking.

Estrada’s people can simply draw a line or box-lines along all the streets in Divisoria that no vendor can go beyond. At the same time vendors should not be allowed to block the sidewalks in front of the tax-and-rent-paying stores. If Erap wants to add to the city’s income they should charge a hassle free fee. That would limit the volume of goods being displayed, which is one of the reasons for the congestion. In the mean time Erap should find out who’s been sleeping on the job or giving him false reports about Divisoria!

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Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista may not realize it but the strip of Banawe street between E. Rodriguez and Quezon Avenue  has turned into complete chaos where drivers do TRIPLE parking and causing grid lock. Just like Divisoria the area is also the equivalent of a public toilet since people simply piss anywhere they want. The Barangay Captains of Divisoria and Banawe should both be punished for allowing their areas to turn into toilets or be required to set up portalets and charge for maintenance.

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After being turned off by the DOTC last year, San Miguel Corp. president and COO Ramon Ang has revived the SMC-PAL proposal to build a modern four runway international gateway that was initially proposed one year ago but was shelved after DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya and his officials declared that airline companies should not have a major share in the construction or operations of airports and terminals because it would be a conflict of interest.

It seems that SMC has decided to bring their proposal and presentation to the cabinet if not the President directly because that would be the only way to getting a straight answer and a clear policy concerning investments in aviation infrastructure. I can’t blame SMC for going to the President with their $10 billion proposal since Secretary Jun Abaya and his lawyer-Undersecretaries seem to be consistently “contrapelo” or against the grain.

Abaya has been quoted in an article of Lawrence Agcaoili in the Philippine STAR as stating that:  “the SMC proposal is an “unsolicited proposal” and there is a bias of government against it. We tend toward more open and transparent bids. Abaya however, clarified that the DOTC would study the proposal of SMC.” 

I don’t know if Secretary Abaya has something against Ramon Ang, San Miguel Corp., or if because of his military background Abaya is simply a stickler for policy to the point of paralysis. What I can say is that he reminds me of what an advertising man named Charles Rosner once wrote: You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.” Secretary Abaya’s statement regarding government bias against “unsolicited proposals” is reflective of the paranoia and resulting paralysis of government in terms of its anti-corruption campaign that critics and supporters have pointed out.

Lumping proposals with bias is a serious error in judgment. Even in law there is a presumption of innocence and regularity. The DOTC declaring bias against “unsolicited bids” because of its presumption that “unsolicited bids” can be tainted with irregularity is unfair and judgmental of SMC’s integrity. Such a policy in government is operationally myopic and paranoid not to mention a disservice to the would be benefactors from such proposals.

Given the constant pre-judgment from the DOTC, it was a wise move on SMC’s part to go to Malacañang because submitting their proposal to the Secretary and Undersecretaries at the DOTC would be tantamount to waiting for the next administration to study their proposal. If it takes the DOTC one year to bid out design works on the NAIA 1 renovations, can you imagine how many decades it would take them to understand the complex plan of a real international airport beyond their imagination!

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The latest wild idea from the DOE is reportedly the proposal for large consumers of electricity such as malls and similar commercial establishments to prepare and utilize their own power generators as much as possible during the summer months. The idea assumes that if commercial establishments generate and use their own electricity that would help reduce the possibility of power shortages and the resulting blackouts this summer.

That would seem to be simple as common sense until you learn that for their sacrifice, the large volume of consumers will be rewarded with rebates or will be paid for generating electricity that they themselves will use. In order not to belabor the point, I’d like to know if the DOE will also pay me a rebate if I buy a generator, go off grid, and use my own generated power? Of course they’ll say NO because I’m not a commercial large-scale consumer. Then the next question would be: Who will pay the malls, hotels and factories for their selfless sacrifice of producing and consuming their own power? Of course it would be the taxpayers! 

Whoever came up with the bright idea and pushes for its implementation may be inviting a lawsuit in the form of graft and corruption charges.

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