Manila Bulletin
Panelo's commute to work called attention to worsening situation of mass transport system - Bayan
Panelo's commute to work called attention to worsening situation of mass transport system - Bayan
Panelo's commute to work called attention to worsening situation of mass transport system - Bayan
Published Oct 11, 2019 01:20 pm
By Hanah Tabios
“Somehow, it trivializes what other people are going through.”
This is what Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr. said after Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo took the “commute challenge” on Friday morning from his home in Marikina City to Malacañang Palace in San Miguel, Manila.
BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
The progressive leader said the whole point of the challenge was to call attention to the worsening situation of the mass transport system in the country, and the need to find long-term solutions for this.
read more:Metro Manila faces mass transport crisis – Bayan
“Magkaroon ng pag-uusap. There should be a dialogue among different stakeholders what are we going to do 10 years from now because we realize there is no fix. There is no magic bullet to solve this current crisis,” he said in an interview on ANC Headstart.
Panelo and even the transportation officials have earlier refuted the claim of the group, citing that the country was not facing a mass transport crisis. Rather, they said there were just prevailing transport problems in the country.
On Wednesday, the presidential spokesman accepted Reyes’ challenge to take the mass transit to report to his work in Malacañang Friday.
read more: Panelo accepts public commute challenge
Coming from his home in Marikina City, Panelo took three jeepney rides before he was able to hitch a ride on a motorcycle to take him to Malacañang’s New Executive Building. He arrived at the Palace at around 8:50 a.m.
“Nagkamali sila ng hinamon,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing after he finished the challenge.
Social media users, who monitored his commute, pointed out that normal working period in government offices was from 8 a.m to 5 a.m. As such, they said Panelo was already late when he arrived at his work place – an ordeal that regular commuters and workers endure every day due to the worsening traffic woes.
read more: Panelo commutes to work, blames media for slow journey
But EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone Head Edison “Bong” Nebrija said in the same television interview that the government already had infrastructure plans in place to address the problem.
As for the traffic situation in EDSA, he said he will try to make it into “a moving parking lot.”
“I really do not sugar coat the situation on EDSA. I’ve been telling them that the problem is volume and it’s increasing every day. And true, that is what we are experiencing everyday also. And we just try to manage it so as not to make EDSA as a parking lot,” he said.
In fact he said, in August the fastest speed limit recorded for cars was 19 kph, while for buses it was 11 kph. But the figures were far compared to the supposedly ideal 60-kph speed limit for vehicles traversing the major thoroughfare.
“Hindi talaga madali ang trabaho niya kaya ang sinasabi natin we cannot just limit the problem to managing traffic. The bigger problem is the transportation infrastructure paano yan maayos,” Reyes asked.
BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
The progressive leader said the whole point of the challenge was to call attention to the worsening situation of the mass transport system in the country, and the need to find long-term solutions for this.
read more:Metro Manila faces mass transport crisis – Bayan
“Magkaroon ng pag-uusap. There should be a dialogue among different stakeholders what are we going to do 10 years from now because we realize there is no fix. There is no magic bullet to solve this current crisis,” he said in an interview on ANC Headstart.
Panelo and even the transportation officials have earlier refuted the claim of the group, citing that the country was not facing a mass transport crisis. Rather, they said there were just prevailing transport problems in the country.
On Wednesday, the presidential spokesman accepted Reyes’ challenge to take the mass transit to report to his work in Malacañang Friday.
read more: Panelo accepts public commute challenge
Coming from his home in Marikina City, Panelo took three jeepney rides before he was able to hitch a ride on a motorcycle to take him to Malacañang’s New Executive Building. He arrived at the Palace at around 8:50 a.m.
“Nagkamali sila ng hinamon,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing after he finished the challenge.
Social media users, who monitored his commute, pointed out that normal working period in government offices was from 8 a.m to 5 a.m. As such, they said Panelo was already late when he arrived at his work place – an ordeal that regular commuters and workers endure every day due to the worsening traffic woes.
read more: Panelo commutes to work, blames media for slow journey
But EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone Head Edison “Bong” Nebrija said in the same television interview that the government already had infrastructure plans in place to address the problem.
As for the traffic situation in EDSA, he said he will try to make it into “a moving parking lot.”
“I really do not sugar coat the situation on EDSA. I’ve been telling them that the problem is volume and it’s increasing every day. And true, that is what we are experiencing everyday also. And we just try to manage it so as not to make EDSA as a parking lot,” he said.
In fact he said, in August the fastest speed limit recorded for cars was 19 kph, while for buses it was 11 kph. But the figures were far compared to the supposedly ideal 60-kph speed limit for vehicles traversing the major thoroughfare.
“Hindi talaga madali ang trabaho niya kaya ang sinasabi natin we cannot just limit the problem to managing traffic. The bigger problem is the transportation infrastructure paano yan maayos,” Reyes asked.