Vancouver Edition
PLANET
PHILIPPINES
SEPTEMBER 1-15, 2012
WANTED A METRO MANILA GOVERNMENT
Without a unified, comprehensive traffic strategy, the Metro Manila gridlock will only get worse.
The day-to-day lives of Metro Manilans are regulated by 17 distinct political units that are basically answerable to the national government. The Metro Manila Development Authority has responsibilities for traffic along certain major thoroughfares like EDSA but it does not even have the power to impose a metropolitan-wide coding system. By dr. efren s. cruz
ETRO Manila needs a metropolitanwide land use, waste management and environmental planning and regulation body and this can only be done by a metropolitan government such as those existing in other metropolitan areas in the world like Bangkok, Tokyo, London and New York. The tons of garbage that washed up on Roxas Boulevard from Manila Bay a few weeks ago during a typhoon did not come from the city of Manila alone. The garbage must have come from ships anchored in the bay and from different areas of the metropolis.
The winds that carry air pollution do not recognize political boundaries and the esteros clogged with wastes cause floods in neighboring cities and towns. Most of the people who work in Makati and the Ortigas area do not live in those places. Certainly a great majority of the students of De La Salle University along Taft Avenue do not live in the city of Manila. It is, therefore, not unusual for a person who lives in Para単aque to go to work in Makati or Pasig while
his or her children go to school in Manila, Quezon City or Las Pi単as. On weekends, he and his family go to Las Pi単as or Makati or San Juan-Mandaluyong for shopping or entertainment. Even the working poor whose means of livelihood are in construction, security, janitorial services or scavenging must travel daily across political boundaries. Many, if not most, Metro Manilans spend most of their waking time in different cities and towns. Also, the basic necessities like electricity, potable water and food are
controlled and distributed by entities that also cross political boundaries. However, the day-to-day lives of Metro Manilans are regulated by 17 distinct political units that are basically answerable to the national government. The Metro Manila Development Authority has responsibilities for traffic along certain major thoroughfares like EDSA but it does not even have the power to impose a metropolitanwide coding system. There is a very pressing need for