Why the delay in the ATP

tions in a coalition that advocates for a “safer, more humane, and more inclusive public transportation system in the Philippines.”

In their statement, which may be read on the group’s Facebook page, the Move As One Coalition calls on the MMDA to “immediately implement the dry run” of the ATP and work with all concerned stakeholders to ensure its success.

EDSA dry run, MMDA?

WHY has the dry run of the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) improved Active Transport Project (ATP) along Edsa been delayed for six months?

Among the many people wondering about this are the members of the Move As One Coalition, which recently issued a statement expressing their grave concerns about the months-long delay in the implementation of the ATP.

The dry run will include road configuration improvements and the widening of pedestrian walkways and protected bi-directional bike lanes. It was supposed to cover a five-kilometer stretch along Santolan, Ortigas, and Shaw Boulevard.

The conduct of the dry run was approved by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Jan. 24 this year, but it has not yet been conducted as far as anyone knows. The dry run is necessary for the implementation of the ATP on Edsa, as part of the DoTr’s Active Transport Infrastructure Improvement Program (ATIIP).

This delay is puzzling, given that the ATIIP is in line with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the National Transport Policy, and other key government issuances.

The Move as One Coalition was founded during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a massive transport crisis occurred. Drivers of public transportation vehicles lost their jobs and healthcare workers had difficulty getting rides to home and work due to strict health restrictions.

This situation moved a group of concerned citizens to push for policies and programs to assist frontliners with their transportation needs.

Today, the group claims to include over 77,000 persons and more than 140 organiza-

The group has been trying to set up a meeting with the MMDA to offer its assistance, but it has not yet received a response.

The benefits of a bikeable and walkable city

The ATP has the potential to make Edsa safer and more efficient for everyone. Safe pedestrian walkways and protected bi-directional bike lanes would make it easier for people to walk and bike, even with children.

Studies have shown that protected bike lanes make it safer to bike and make the roads safer for everyone.

A study published in the Journal of Transport & Health found that bike facilities act as “calming” mechanisms on traffic, slowing cars and reducing fatalities.

We expect the SONA to be comprehensive, covering the economic, political and social dimensions of governance.

But we anticipate the report to highlight specific policies and programs that the administration considers game changers.

On the economic front, there’s the Maharlika Investment Fund Act, signed only on July 11.

The President himself cited the significance of this piece of legislation: “The MIF is a bold step towards our country’s meaningful economic transformation…Just as we are recovering from the adverse effects of the pandemic, we are now ready to enter a new age of sustainable progress, robust

LAST week, radio was inundated with sound bytes from the president’s first State of the Nation address before Congress, the last sentences of which consisted of a ringing declaration that “we have assembled the best Filipino minds to help us navigate through this global crisis that we are facing.”

He segues to wide applause that “We will endure. Let our Filipino spirit remain undimmed.

“I know this in my mind, I know it in my heart, I know it in my very soul … THE STATE OF THE NATION IS SOUND” was the final peroration.

One year after that SONA, many are asking, how sound, Mr. President, is the current state of our nation?

In this article, I shall not delve into the specifics of the 19-point legislative program he vowed to pursue with a Congress which at no other time in its history has been as subservient to the executive as now, martial law exempted.

We loved the promise to right size a topheavy government bureaucracy and the enactment finally of a Land Use Act, yet through the whole year that passed, no progress has happened on these much-needed reforms.

The others still pend in Congress with the HoR having passed some that are still under scrutiny by a Senate that prefers to grandstand on investigations allegedly in aid of legislation.

Maybe in due time, knowing how our economic managers have prioritized the creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund above all else, billing it as some sort of panacea that would reverse our economic stagnation, the 19-point program, parts of which have moved, might bear fruition.

But let me repeat the question in many minds, how sound is the economy? How sound is our future? For 2023, Congress passed a national budget of P5.2 trillion, and the executive has proposed P5.7 trillion for 2024 (I have purposely rounded off the numbers for easier recall).

In fine, there will be a 10 percent increase in the national government’s appropriation next year, if Congress does not cut, and of course we know it will not cut, just move figures here and there to satisfy legislative pork cravings.

The Maharlika Investments Corp. (MIC), which will be the sole vehicle for mobilizing and utilizing the MIF for investments, is expected to have at least P75 billion in paidup capital this year, with P50 billion sourced from the Land Bank of the Philippines and P25 billion from the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The Fund will be invested in a wide range of assets, including foreign currencies, fixed-income instruments, domestic and foreign corporate bonds, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and high-impact infrastructure projects, and

The opening up of the economy after three years of the COVID-19 pandemic has led not only to renewed business activity but also to the return to face-to-face classes at all levels, bringing the nation closer to pre-COVID-19 normalcy.

We also forged closer relations with the United States, China, Japan and our ASEAN and APEC partners as part of a foreign policy focused on what the President said is being a “friend to all, an enemy to none.”

The diplomatic offensive during the past year not only led to some P3.7 trillion in investment pledges, but also enhanced the country’s standing in the international community. All in all, a truly productive year that can only lead to more significant progress in all aspects in the years ahead.

How sound?

surpass the same this year, we will still be down with a P1.5 trillion deficit.

Now how do we finance that? For now, and until Congress passes new revenue enhancement measures, we borrow.

So even our economic managers expect government borrowing to be in the vicinity of P1.5 trillion each year for the next few years, knowing full well that (1) it will not be easy to pass tax enhancement bills while inflation keeps soaring, and (2) our GDP is not expected to grow fast enough, or large enough, what with all the global uncertainties endangering economies all over.

In the first half of this year, our debt has reached P14.1 trillion, of which P3.2 trillion is on account of COVID-related expenditures, from vaccines to ayuda, to other forms of subsidies which had to be resorted to while the economy was on lockdown state.

Truth is, we have been financing our budgets by borrowings all these years, the bal- loon enlarged in the last five years. dependent on feeds and fertilizers from other countries.

But let me repeat the question in many minds, how sound is the economy? How sound is our future?

And so we continue to borrow about P1.5 trillion each year, probably more if the bonanza, which others call illusion, of foreign investments failing to come in to the country, despite all the hoopla about the president’s 13 trips, by tomorrow 14, with all the pledges that have yet to materialize.

The GDP, currently at P22 trillion, needs to double to almost P44 trillion by 2028, to be able to finance our expected deficits.

Will Maharlika be the magic wand?

Furthermore, the distribution of the nation’s wealth is what worries non-government economists in the academe and business sectors, on top of persistent inflation that is almost Sisyphean in character.

We reduce the inflation rate by one percentage point and our economic managers cry hallelujah, along with expectations to tame it by year-end to the hoped for 2 to 4 percent level. Then Russia and OPEC turn on the screws and reduce petroleum exports.

I hate to be a jeremiad of doom, but expect inflation to remain in the 6 percent level the rest of this year, and perhaps till next.

On top of the geopolitical externalities is that devilish weather phenomenon called El Nino, which means less water available, and, when the typhoon season visits in the third and even fourth quarter of 2023, will mean stronger than usual cyclone strength as these move across the warm ocean waters of the Pacific into our shores.

In 2021, our per capita income was $3,900, already lower than Vietnam which ended a long war, first against the French, then the mighty US of A only in 1975. With a sluggish economy bedeviled by high inflation, and a world-wide recession looming, dreams of high growth will remain dreams.

To the poor who have been enduring the unequal distribution of wealth through decades, the only solution is, and will continue to be, to leave the Philippines for backbreaking work abroad, never mind love for the Philippines.

Already we are feeling the effects of this diaspora in the local scene, from a shortage of health and education professionals, to farm labor scarcity which dooms our agriculture to less and less productivity.

Meanwhile, our economic managers fret at the ballooning GAA-funded military pension system, which stand at about 200 billion this year, warning of “fiscal collapse.”

Yet, in the interstices of the national budget, between allocations for personnel salaries of a yet over-sized bureaucracy and wastefully-spent MOOE, are layers upon layers of pork which Congress insiders estimate at higher than P800 billion for 2023 and close to P900 billion.

Juxtaposed against the annual deficit of P1.5 to P1.6 trillion which we finance through more and more borrowings, the pork barrel insertions alone are more than half of the national deficit.

And our military and uniformed personnel, chafing at their being labelled as causes of fiscal collapse, now rightfully ask for an accounting, and beyond the numbers, a drastic reduction of greed from the legislators who will soon decide how to solve the Gordian Knot that is the pension system.

Like Alexander the Great, people ask, why not just cut the greed?

People Healthier With They

Ultimately, a more walkable and bikeable city will encourage private vehicle users to also use, or even shift to, nonmotorized modes of transport. This would reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and make people healthier with the exercise they would be getting.

It’s only gotten worse

Let’s face it, traffic in the metro has only gotten worse over succeeding government administrations.

Former President Duterte said he fulfilled all his campaign promises except for easing Edsa traffic, and blamed Congress for not giving him emergency powers to do so.

This failure to fix Edsa not only during the previous administration but over several decades is a huge blow to national development because the shortsightedness of all administrations including the present is to keep Manila as the country’s imperial center, and Edsa as the main thoroughfare.

People are sick and tired of the traffic and chaos and the interminable time spent look-

But how do the bloated budget allocations square off with our over-all economic performance this year?

The 2022 budget deficit, in plain and simple terms, the difference between our revenues and expenditure, was “1.6 trillion.

Let us assume that the BIR and BOC will meet their targets, perhaps even marginally ing for a ride, and, when they’ve found a ride, sweltering inside vehicles longer than they’re moving because of the horrendous traffic.

An added burden is the high cost of public transportation that doubled after the war in Ukraine started, without salaries being increased to compensate.

The Filipino people need and deserve alternative forms of transportation that actually work for them and make them feel better instead of feeling like they are suffering in hell each time they go out.

The benefits of a bike culture

Cycling is a great way to get around, and it has many benefits for both individuals and society as a whole. In the Philippines, cycling is not as popular as it is in other countries such as the Netherlands, but there are many reasons why we should be trying to instill a bike-riding culture in our country.

Worse, Russia will interdict shipments of grain from Ukrainian ports as another weapon in the seemingly unending war.

That will push grain prices upwards, even to the point of scarcity, which will impact most food-importing nations like the Philippines, whose staple – rice -- it cannot produce enough to satisfy domestic consumption, and whose livestock and other food industries are

For one, it gives health benefits. Cycling is a great way to get exercise, and it can cut down the risk of obesity, diabetes, and other lifestylerelated diseases.

It is also a very affordable way to get around, and it can save money on transportation costs.

It is good for the environment. Cycling does not produce any emissions, so it is a very environmentally friendly way to travel.

This is especially important for a country like the Philippines, which is facing serious air pollution problems.

It can help reduce traffic congestion. If more people cycled, it would mean fewer cars on the road, which would help to reduce traffic congestion. This would make it easier and faster for everyone to get to their destinations. Bike commuting can also be a great way to meet new people and get to know your community, and make our cities more liveable.

No, Mr. President, the state of the nation is yet unsound, although with bated breath we will look to your words of “inspiration” this afternoon, hoping SONA will not be “Speech Only, No Accomplishments” as a naughty meme circulating in the internet suggests.

What raft of solutions will you be proposing to deal with the numbers that do not lie?

To encourage bike commuting in the Philippines, for one thing, the government needs to build protected bike lanes and other infrastructure that makes it safe and convenient to cycle.

This is what the ATIIP is supposed to do.

We need action, fast

The MMDA has a responsibility to implement the dry run without further delay and, working with all concerned stakeholders, do its part toward making Edsa a safer and more sustainable transportation corridor. For the agency to fail to act on this project immediately is to show its incompetence and lack of urgency in the face of steadily surmounting transportation challenges that will only tremendously set back productivity, health, and national development -- when the solution is staring at us right in the face.

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