Pnoy Sona 2013

           

          ABOUT TRAFFIC: Isn’t it estimated that our economy loses an estimated 2.4 billion pesos every day because of Metro Manila traffic? Among the projects targeted to decongest Manila is the Integrated Transport System. For the buses that force themselves onto already-crowded roads, we will construct terminals in areas with less traffic. Our countrymen can already make use of the terminal in Parañaque, and the ones in Quezon City and Muntinlupa are already lined up. Provincial buses will be permitted only up to these terminals, so they do not add to the congestion.There is also the two connector roads that will join the North and South Luzon Expressways. To tell you the truth, there were already plans to construct what they called the Metro Manila Highway in the seventies. This would have connected the two expressways, so that traveling from one point to another need not consume the hours it takes to pass through the entire length of EDSA. The problem: Mr. Marcos issued laws that favored one of his cronies. And unfortunately, we are required to follow them: Whoever constructs infrastructure in those areas must be in partnership with the corporation of Mr. Marcos’ friend. Even worse: every time they add even just another short section to the original road, their franchise is extended by thirty years. That is not the end of it: Once the company profited, the development of infrastructure in the area was left unfinished. Remember that these roads were supposed to traverse Pangasinan to Quezon… But when the company operated at a loss, they had the audacity to pass on to the government a multitude of debts. I ask our Congress today: Let us take another look at Presidential Decrees 1113 and 1894.