Remembering Sir Max Soliven, 1929-2006

Today is the 4th anniversary of the late Sir Max Soliven’s departure from this life into life eternal. As written boldly in his epitaph, a quotation from Sir Max: “If I would have my name endure, I’ll write it in the hearts of men.” How time has flown indeed when he left us so suddenly. Sir Max is such a man that I will never forget, a man that not a day passes that I do not miss his company for he made me what I am today. What Sir Max wrote on his grave is very true . . . for I’m one of the many where the name of Sir Max Soliven endures until I die! May I request the pious reader to please pray for the repose of his soul. 

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I flew to Manila last Friday to attend the Grand Wine Experience hosted by our good friends, Bobby and Ralph Joseph, at the New World Hotel. Coming in for a very clear weather landing, you could see how much of Metro Manila’s landscape has changed. In short, Metro Manila has turned into a megapolis and growing uncontrollably with farmlands disappearing.

This brings us to the issue of traffic woes plaguing the nation’s capital, most of which are concentrated on its major thoroughfares, like EDSA. How times have changed since that road was called Highway 54, where I tasted my first pizza in the Italian Village restaurant. But passing through EDSA to visit Mother Lily’s plush Imperial Palace Suites in Timog Ave. took us all but two hours to go to the New World Hotel. If this is normal travel time in Manila’s widest thoroughfare where the MRT traverses, then something is terribly wrong and if nothing will be done soon, I guarantee you that EDSA would soon become a huge parking lot!

I shouldn’t be discussing traffic in Metro Manila, after all, I’m from Cebu. But then, when I ran the Cebu Traffic Operations & Management (CITOM) for four years (gratis et amore) we went to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to compare notes and I found many uncanny similarities between the rapid, but uncontrolled or unplanned growth of Metro Manila to the growth of Metro Cebu.

Mind you, I too am not happy with the uncontrolled growth of Metro Cebu and all this is due to only one reason . . . no one and I mean no one is doing any urban planning in Cebu and chances are, the same thing is happening in Metro Manila, where the private sector is building subdivisions, condominiums and shopping malls, which are at par with the western world.

But alas, the government has failed to be up to speed with the private sector, especially when it comes to planning roads. This is something that the Aquino administration should recognize . . . that we need to come up with an overhauled Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH) because they should not only be building roads… but urban planning is a whole different ballgame! Perhaps someone in the caliber of Arch. Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. should be tapped to do a proper urban planning for Metro Manila.

Sen. Ralph Recto tasked the Aquino government to look at medium and long-term solutions to the traffic mess in the metropolis. However, he should know that bad traffic is the result of improper planning. At this point it would be downright impossible to do an urban re-planning of Metro Manila. But it doesn’t mean to say that it can’t be done. If we have the political will, then it can happen. What are needed are pocket urban renewal areas, like turning blighted squatter areas into nice urban residences.

Incidentally when Arch. Palafox was in Cebu last August for a speaking engagement, he pointed out, “The local government and private sectors should change their perception of what is a good community. An integrated concept that will allow people perhaps to live upstairs and work, shop and do other things downstairs. The problem is that we planned our cities by looking at the wrong model cities. Too Hollywood! It’s time to change this!”

If there’s anything that I like in the cities and towns of the United States, it is that they control the number of people living in an area. When they perceive that there are too many people living in that area . . . they do not allow new dwellings to be constructed. Alas, this is not happening in this country simply because too many people want to live in urban centers.

So Metro Manilans, please don’t complain about the traffic or even the lack of rice . . . that’s because those rice fields nearby are already subdivisions and golf courses! Now comes the best part . . . the solution to the traffic mess in EDSA really depends upon the political will of MMDA officials, who are still on the odd-even scheme for vehicles, which is to say the least, passé.

If you let a Singaporean solve this problem . . . it would be a piece of cake. He’d merely slap a huge fine on cars traversing through EDSA, especially those who do not need to pass there. But will the middle class in Manila follow Singapore’s example by using the MRT instead of their cars? I doubt it! Get more MRT Trains . . . and yes buses and limit the use of cars in EDSA!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.