Press Release
August 25, 2016

TRANSCRIPT OF SEN. GRACE POE'S OPENING STATEMENT
Public Hearing of the Committee on Public Services

Good morning. Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat. The hearing will now come to order.

This is the second joint public hearing of the Committee on Public Services, the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, and the Committee on Finance.

I would like to acknowledge the presence of my colleagues...

Our public hearings are conducted in consideration of measures that propose to give emergency powers to the President to effectively address the transportation and traffic crisis. In our first hearing, we said that before we decide to give emergency powers or craft any solution to solve the transport and traffic crisis, we need to fully understand the problems and issues. These problems must be clearly and specifically identified, so that the powers to be granted shall likewise be FOI-compliant; fiscally-res ponsible; defined, detailed, and with deadlines - to which the DOTr fully agreed thru the Secretary.

Thus, in our last hearing conducted on Aug 10, 2016, we asked the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and the Chair of the MMDA to give us an overview of the state of our land and air transport system.

We learned that Metro Manila has a land area of 636 square kilometers, and therefore, the ideal road network should be around 8,200 kilometers. However, our current road network is only at 5,220 kilometers. This means that we lack around 3,000 kilometers of roads, which is roughly the distance between Manila to Tokyo.

We also learned that EDSA has a capacity of 6,000 vehicles per direction per hour. But in July 27, the MMDA recorded 7,500 vehicles per direction per hour in EDSA which amounts to an excess of 1,500 vehicles per direction per hour.

Dahil kaunti at makikitid ang ating mga daan, at dahil marami na masyado tayong mga sasakyan, hindi nakakagulat na talagang malala ang trapiko sa Metro Manila.

But beyond these statistics, how does traffic affect the quality of life of an ordinary commuter? The former Secretary of DOTC, when being asked about the traffic situation, said, "Hindi naman siguro ito fatal."

Hindi niya siguro naisip na may health expenses related to pollution ang traffic. Isipin na lang natin, ang kalbaryo ng commuter ay nagsisimula sa madaling araw, at minsan ay nagtatapos ng hating gabi. Kulang sa tulog, nalilipasan ng gutom, nagpipigil pumunta sa banyo, nasisinghot ang usok, nakatayo o nakaupo nang napakatagal sa byahe dahil sa trapik. Hindi man yan fatal, siguradong iikli naman ang buhay mo. Plus, it is also fatal to the economy. The recent JICA study which pegged it at 2.4B is actually now, from the Secretary, is now P3B losses a day to traffic.

And when government imposes so-called solutions to the problems, it seems as though no consideration or thought was given as to how this would impact our commuters. Kung dati mga opisyales lamang ng gobyerno an gating inimbitahan at ibang oeprators ngayon naman po nandito naman mismong mga commuters at mga nagpapatakbo rin ng ating mga public utility vehicles, mga tinatawag din nilang oppressed sa ating sitwasyon.

Atty. Carlos, of the MMDA, said that one of the initial steps taken to decongest traffic in Metro Manila, was to prohibit provincial buses from plying the major streets, such as EDSA. In particular, provincial buses coming from Cavite and Batangas, were made to load and unload at the temporary Southwest Integrated Provincial Terminal located at Uniwide Mall in Parañaque, and operated by MMDA.

However, as I found out, the terminal is a living hell for commuters who need to go home to Cavite or Batangas. Hindi maayos ang pagkakagawa, at ngayon, napabayaan na ng gobyerno. Sa aking pagtingin, ang dumi-dumi ng paligid, napakadilim, halos walang mdaanan ang iba nating kababayan dahil sa mga nakabalandra dun sa ibang walkways sa baba. Gumagawa sila ng mga sarili nilang mga makeshift na hagdan para mas may madaling access. Ang cross walk sa mga major intersections, hindi po nakamarka.

There is not enough room for the buses to maneuver and commuters complain that it takes a long time for the buses to leave kahit na puno na ito ng pasahero dahil naghihintay pa na mag-standing room only minsan sa mga bus. I would like to show you a video of the area. (Video Southwest terminal inspection shown)

Nakakaawa kung araw-araw dito kayo dapat mag-abang ng bus para pumasok sa trabaho at yan din ang dadatnan mo. Nakadumi, ang hirap daanan ng lugar, kailangan nakabota ka pa minsan sa sobrang putik. Madilim. Nalaman ko may banyo, tatlong stalls, kaya lang 150 meters ka pa sa banyo, naamoy mo na. May waiting area na parang sa airport terminal, maganda naman, pero nakakandado dahil sira ang aircon. Ito po ang kauna-unahahan nating bus terminal sa Metro Manila. Yan ang sitwasyon sa atin bansa na ang ekonomiya ay lumalago na. Kaya talagang hindi ko maintidihan bakit napabayaan ng ganito ang terminal na ito.

Yesterday, nag-privilege speech si Sen. Zubiri at ang mga binaggit nya ay innovative solutions sa traffic congestion. Ito rin ay interesting because I filed a bill on creating bike-friendly communities and road-sharing programs. Ito naman ay isang aspeto rin ng ating mga commuter na hindi naman lahat ay sasakyan ang ginagamit.

If the emergency powers are being sought in the name of the people, then it is proper that we ask the people what changes they want to see. Most often, transport plans fail, not because they are not good enough, but they suffer from the fatal handicap of not consulting people on the ground. Yan po ang sitwasyon ng ating mga kababayan kaya naman yung ibang provincial buses ayaw na ring tumigil dun. Nung nakatayo nga rin po kami sa footbridge, nakita namin ang mga provincial buses, tuloy tuloy na lang, hindi na tumitigil, diretso na rin sa EDSA.

We have invited experts who will, hopefully, give us a more objective, data-driven analysis of the transport and traffic situation, as well as possible solutions. We also welcome representatives from DOTr and MMDA, HPG and NEDA who can immediately respond to issues raised in the course of our hearing.??

Now, I would like to acknowledge the presence of our resource persons...

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