Is Mar trying to lose the election?

Maybe it is battle fatigue but the real battle is yet to take place. There is no sane way I can explain why Mar Roxas would say the traffic problems and air traffic congestion are signs the country’s economy is booming.

“This is a problem in a sense that arises from prosperity. Because there is money. Because there is economic activity,” he said at the annual national convention of sugar technologists in Cebu last week.

Mar’s measure of prosperity is the number of new cars because it shows people have money to buy those cars. He recalled that when he was DTI Secretary, only 60,000 new cars were introduced into our road system.

Now, 260,000 new vehicles were added last year and for this year, 300,000 new vehicles are expected. Of course, all those new cars will compete for space on streets and highways with all the existing cars.

As for air traffic congestion, it’s a problem Roxas attributed to a boom in domestic tourism. “Equivalent to half our population flew on a flight within the Philippines,” he said.

I guess this lame attempt to put a positive spin on traffic jams on land and on air is their official storyline. P-Noy used that same explanation. I first heard that from Secretary Mon Jimenez.

There are however, a number of things wrong with Mar using that explanation at a time when he is trying to gain credibility he badly needs as a presidential candidate.

Firstly, Mar is effectively throwing vinegar to an open wound.  People are suffering from the ill effects of infrastructure lack and are in no mood to be patronized. They are unlikely to buy a very obvious spin that’s far removed from reality.

Secondly, all the congestion we are seeing shows how economic growth in this country had been non-inclusive. That is nothing to be proud of… meaningless to most people.

It shows most of the money from the so called economic growth is flowing to a few on top of our social pyramid. They buy another car or two with different plate ending numbers to go around the car coding scheme meant to reduce congestion. This means, the poor bear the brunt of suffering the punishment in their daily commute to work or school.

Thirdly, the congestion problems dramatically show the failure of government to anticipate the need for basic infrastructure to address the needs of growth. Anticipating public needs is a principal function of government.

I will grant that past administrations have a lot of blame to bear but unfortunately, the P-Noy administration did almost nothing. They failed to add more mass transport capacity… indeed as in the case of the MRT, drastically reduced the number of functioning trains. They also failed to implement schemes that would alleviate the negative impact of our snail paced traffic flow.

My friend Robin Tong e-mailed me that “travel time for me this morning (ex-ofc.) was two hrs. Based on my car’s onboard computer, my average speed for the 1st hour was 3kph; for the 2nd hour, 2kph (or an average of 2.5kph for two hours).” Funeral processions go faster than that.

The prosperity Mar is claiming is negated by the large amount of lost man hours and wasted fuel, lost business opportunities due to delays and missed deadlines.

The congestion problems are stunting economic growth. As I reported last week, the inability of BPO workers to get to work on time is starting to crimp an otherwise still rising industry.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) estimates that Metro Manila’s traffic jams are costing the Philippine economy P2.4 billion pesos a day in potential income. At P45 to the dollar, that’s over P2.5 billion already.

JICA warns the cost of congestion could balloon to P6 billion a day by 2030. Imagine if all that money we are losing were used to build infrastructure. We could have been an economic powerhouse in the region.

Then, there are the increased carbon emissions or greenhouse gases as vehicles idle. The threat to our health is even now being felt by many of us who are suffering more cases of sinusitis, asthma and other respiratory diseases. Such health problems impact negatively on our productivity too.

Building needed infrastructure takes time. And the P-Noy administration failed to improve on the dismal record of past administrations. Worse, there was no political will to do even palliative measures that would alleviate the people’s sufferings. The inability to deal with the buses on EDSA is prime example.

Traffic expert Rene Santiago told CNN Philippines there are now 3,500 buses on EDSA. Rene thinks that number can be reduced by a thousand and 2,500 will be adequate. But, Rene calculates, having 1,000 buses there would be more efficient. And if we can put the buses in a dedicated lane and function like a train or a BRT, 500 will be enough.

But P-Noy’s DOTC and its attached agencies, LTFRB and LTO are too politicized to address the problem. I long for the days when then MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando just took the extra buses (mostly so called colorum) out of the system. Today, the current MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino only whines he has no power to do anything without the cooperation of LTFRB.

Indeed, they could not even make the bus operators start paying the drivers a salary instead of demanding a boundary payment from them. The current system is illegal but both the LTFRB and the Labor department can’t seem to enforce the law requiring a salary system.

That move is crucial if we are to stop the inhuman boundary system that forces the bus drivers to act like road maniacs. Just last week, we saw how such a driver, who supposedly drugged himself to keep driving long hours, could cause such a painful tragedy.

It isn’t as if our officials do not know what ought to be done. For example, the horrible conditions in the NAIA terminals are totally inexcusable. That’s because we do not have competent airport managers and P-Noy tolerates the mess.

If there is one thing NAIA should learn from Changi, DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said “it should be run like a hotel. There should be an attention to detail, and the importance of customer service and efficiency should be a main priority.”

I couldn’t believe Abaya said all those things in an interview with Rappler. Yun naman pala… alam niya pero palpak pa rin ang ating mga airports!

The size of an airport is not a limitation to achieve smooth and efficient operations, says a Filipino Changi Airport official. Yet, DOTC and NAIA officials justify their inefficiency by claiming NAIA is now running at an over capacity.

“If service levels are improved and people get a lot more comfortable when they go through an airport, they tend to stay a bit longer, shop more, thus enhance the airport’s revenue-generating capacity, and generally say nice things about the airport when they get home,” Changi Airport vice president Jose Pantangco said during his visit to the Philippines in 2011 according to Rappler.

It is unfortunate that Mar tried to put an ill-advised positive spin on a nagging and irritating problem that we all experience daily. It is either Mar is more stupid than we suspect for claiming congestion is a sign of progress or Mar thinks the people are stupid enough to believe that spin. This lack of respect is just how a haciendero would think of anyone outside his social class.

Mar could have been humble enough to acknowledge the obvious shortcoming of government. He could then move on to say that he has learned the lessons of the last five years and now knows what not to do and what to do if he is elected.

Why is it so difficult to acknowledge very obvious shortcomings? Indeed, following the explanation of the 8th commandment, Thou shall not steal, by CCF senior pastor Peter Tanchi last Sunday, our officials are guilty of violating this commandment with impunity daily.

How so? As Pastor Peter pointed out, stealing includes stealing time. Heaven knows how much time has been stolen from us… time we could have spent in our business… being with our families creating memories with our children and otherwise living fruitful lives instead of being stuck 4 hours or more in daily traffic on the ground and in the air.

No one can deny that everything deteriorated in transportation and communication under P-Noy’s watch… road, rail, sea and air transport, pier congestion and yes, broadband speed as well.

Acknowledge and Repent, guys and do not try to wiggle out of something so obviously your shortcomings. Otherwise, retribution will come in terms of a lost election... unless it is Mar’s hidden objective to lose.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco