Traffic solution eludes...

congestion in Metro Manila.

Royeca said this underlines the need for new and modern infrastructure.

“There are really productivity issues just on that [traffic] congestion from EDSA, but what it does not tell us is how it curtails our quality of life,” he said.

He said it took a foreigner to point out to him that traffic congestion is “really an attack on the quality of life.” Royeca said when his wife, who is a Singaporean, moved to the Philippines, the first thing she noticed was that Filipinos spent hours on the road commuting.

“In Singapore, everything is just 30 minutes away maximum and on average about 15 minutes. As a Filipino, I was so de- sensitized on this issue that I thought it was just commonplace,” he said.

Royeca said because of the choking traffic, people become overseas workers in their own city, having to spend hours just to travel to and from their workplace, depriving them of spending quality time with their loved ones.

“It is tragic that this is really happening. Traffic shackles your freedom. For some people, it is just mere congestion, but for most of us, what we do not realize is that it affects all your big and small decision in life; small decisions being how many meetings will I take today, where will I go to be more efficient in my time, big decisions like the social circle you keep. It affects