Presidential recall please

As the song goes: “Please don’t let me be misunderstood.”

What I’m suggesting in today’s column is for President Rodrigo Duterte to seriously consider recalling certain “powers” or authority that have been given to local governments which have resulted in corruption and chaos along national highways as well as Metro Manila roads.

So far I can point out two “powers” being exercised by LGUs that used to be under the Land Transportation Office or LTO and these are: the deputation of local governments to conduct anti-smoke belching operations and the power to regulate tricycles. President Duterte might be interested to know that there has been a rise in the number of complaints from drivers in Metro Manila who report that the anti-smoke belching operations have turned into nothing but blatant extortion where drivers end up paying P500 to avoid a ticket and the inconvenience of having their licenses confiscated. Law enforcers have even tipped me off that in some cities, “tambays” or “barkers” collect the payoff so that the act of corruption won’t be traced back to the enforcers.

This situation is a “no contest” affair for drivers because the ASBU enforcers are the ones who step on the pedal and rev the vehicles beyond the red line or maximum revolutions set on the RPM or tachometer of the vehicle. Even a brand new vehicle would spew unburned fuel and smoke belch because sudden forceful acceleration would push the engine beyond it’s normal fuel burning capacity. Although the ASBUs are merely deputized by the LTO, they operate on their own without supervision of LTO personnel or Highway Patrol Group. While this has long been a controversial issue, there have been more complaints during the last month and there is suspicion that the tong collection might be part of the fund raising of re-electionist candidates!

Motorists also point out: what is the point in requiring vehicle owners to have their vehicles tested for smoke emission before registration if the certificate is ignored by ASBUs. This practice basically nullifies or insults the LTO where their deputized agents act as if they were more authoritative than a national agency. Perhaps Assistant Secretary Ed Galvante can immediately review the situation before the increased extortion gets out of hand.

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During the Holy Week, commuters taking buses to Bicol ended up being delayed by an additional 4 hours, reportedly due to traffic created by tricycles in the towns of Lopez and Gumaca in Quezon province.

In spite of an order issued by DILG Secretary Año instructing Mayors to ban tricycles from national roads, most if not all local officials have IGNORED Secretary Año’s order and we now find tricycles along EDSA that service stores and buyers at the Muñoz and Balintawak cloverleaf market, and of course along most highways. Even in Lipa City where former Mayor Vilma Santos Recto introduced a dedicated service road for tricycles, tricycles now occupy four to five lanes of the highway because the DPWH and their contractors ripped out the dividers and never put them back. Up north, the situation is just as worse with travel time being extended further by tricycle drivers who insist on driving on the fast lane or the middle of national highways.

Given his powers over the Philippine National Police, particularly the Highway Patrol Group, I respectfully suggest that Secretary Año or one of his outdoors type Usecs should conduct a two-prong campaign of arresting tricycle drivers and filing administrative cases against mayors who have compromised their executive responsibilities and integrity in exchange for the support of tricycle TODAs or tricycle operators and drivers associations. Some mayors and traffic enforcement groups have confided that it would be more politically expedient if the national government and national enforcement groups be the one to conduct the operations so that local politicians won’t get torched during elections!

Perhaps it is about time for President Duterte to torch them all in the interest of putting an end to the extortion, inconvenience and monetary losses by recalling the undeserved powers of LGUs and return them to the LTO. Let the LTO hire more law enforcers using the money raised from fines slapped on tricycles and real smoke belchers.

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After coming out with the “Ban the Ban” column, an influential traffic authority shared his concern over the designated Bus Terminals where provincial buses will be “forced” to load or drop off passengers going to Metro Manila. Had the terminals been government owned, the idea would easily fall under public service and transport enhancement. But because the designated bus terminals are privately owned, there is the expected suspicion that the ban on provincial buses and closure of bus terminals along EDSA is really all about insuring the commercial viability of the privately owned terminals and has nothing to do with decongesting EDSA!

While critics have focused mostly on the shortcomings of the system and inconvenience to the public, my source pointed out that the volume of foot traffic loading and unloading at the commercial bus terminals, translates to hundreds of thousands of pesos daily in terms of product sales particularly food and general merchandise. On the other hand, someone who knows the life of a daily commuter in the south pointed out that if city buses picked up all the passengers arriving at the Sta. Rosa, Laguna terminal, this would mean that commuters waiting for buses at San Pedro, Laguna and Alabang in Muntinlupa will lose out because the city buses would be full at Sta. Rosa. Unless the LTFRB can actually rationalize and allocate sufficient buses for San Pedro and Alabang, these commuters might end up having to go to Sta. Rosa as well!  Like I said before, this big idea was not carefully researched, walked through, tried out and tested. Whoever planned this project needs to go back to school!

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