IF Manila was a computer, then the operating system running it has gone haywire. Most commuters are used to heavy traffic, but it seems that every month makes the commuting burden worse and worse. The collective frustration with the seemingly impossible traffic situation has unfortunately brought about inane proposals, like making EDSA one way (I can’t even begin to think about how that would even marginally help) to banning cars by the model to replace the existing number coding scheme.

Most agree that a reliable mass transport system is the answer to our transport woes. As one commenter on a Facebook thread once said, the Philippine government must learn how to move people rather than cars, and only when it learns how to do so can we find real and sustainable solutions to our traffic problem. The epic tragedy that is the MRT3 remains as such: a rolling tragedy, and sometimes not rolling at all. The previous administration received its share of criticism about its actions regarding the MRT3, but enough time (and opportunity) has been given to the current administration to prove that its bright boys are better than those manning the DOTC in the Aquino era. Even former Secretary Jun Abaya’s most vicious critic, Sen. Grace Poe, is now asking the DOTr why the Dalian trains are not being deployed to alleviate the commuter situation. The procurement of the Dalian trains has been politicized so much (ehem) that the current DOTr is afraid to touch it with a 10-foot pole, to the gross disadvantage of the commuters.

But the MRT3 issues aside, the MMDA has succeeded in one aspect: antagonizing the riding and commuting public with its inane suggestions and decisions. Add this to the fact that the public face of the MMDA seems to be more interested in picking fights with stakeholders and media rather than actually communicating what solutions are being explored to ease the daily situation. It’s a pity, actually, because the workhorses of the MMDA–its ground officers and silent policy makers–are on the ball every day, rain or shine.

True, it takes just one shower of rain to slow down the metro but these days, it’s not just slowing down–it grinds to a halt. I know people who have to wake up at 4 a.m. and leave at 5 a.m. just to get to work at 10 a.m., and that’s just traveling from Cainta to Ortigas.

The morning radio program I listen to takes callers to share updates on the traffic situation from wherever they are, and ninety percent of the callers usually take a minimum of two hours to go from their homes to their workplace. Add to this already head-splitting mix the closure of one lane on SLEX in Alabang and the recent fire that crippled LRT-2, and we’re in for the most unpleasant year and a half of mind-numbing gridlocks.

As is the Filipino way, we rant to high heaven but we adapt and bear the situation. A friend of mine now has a portable massage machine plugged into her car charger to help her back pain while sitting in traffic. Some brilliant soul curated a fantastic playlist of songs played in UV Express vans on Spotify that can distract you from sitting in traffic. A couple of folks I know head out of the office like warriors prepared for battle: folding umbrella, water bottle, power bank, fully-charged mobile phone, and ear phones. How long we will have to put up with the inconvenience is anyone’s guess, unless our policy makers put their heads together in earnest, set aside other political considerations and actually start cracking the traffic situation.

In the meantime, enjoy your UV Express playlist.

EVERY administration faces a transport strike. I don’t recall a particularly stellar response from an administration in particular, and it seems that administrations in general do not know how to respond to a transport strike. I don’t mean that they don’t know how to deploy alternative transport on the day of the strike and suspend classes, but rather, the root cause why our drivers go on strike in the first place.

I’m not sure who started this “us against them” mentality that government has against our public utility operators and drivers. It certainly hasn’t been helpful, in my view. What’s worse is taking the position that government can “triumph” in the face of a transport strike, further heightening this harmful mentality that it’s a situation to be won, not one to be solved.

For as long as I’ve been following the national news, regardless of administration, it seems that government has always been on one side and drivers and operators, on the other; what most of those in power seem to be missing is an actual, workable solution to the root cause of the problem. Of course, not to forget the hundreds of thousands of commuters stuck between this push-and-pull between government and the transport groups.

The crux of the matter seems to be what drivers view as draconian: the proposed modernization plan. Back in the day, operators and groups were okay with jeepney modernization, but were concerned about the high cost of the new jeeps. It fell to government to find ways to finance this, and to make sure that the repayment terms were not a burden to the drivers. The problem with government finance is that resources are finite; funding one project can mean taking money out for another. It’s a delicate balancing act that should be treaded carefully, lest something unintended slip by.

The strange thing is, a situation like this is surely up the alley of an administration that built itself on tapang at malasakit. You’d think they’d have something up their sleeve for times like these, but so far they haven’t done anything than suspend classes whenever a strike is declared. Also, I expected that this administration would be a little less allergic to subsidies than the previous, given their propensity to crow about how they are one with the every man.

It seems that the opposite is the case, and the administration’s spin doctors are painting the strikers as the enemy. This is their usual play, of course, no different than the way they demonized Sen. Leila De Lima or Vice President Leni Robredo. Unfortunately, it is the vulnerable in society that is most affected by this: the daily wage earner who already has to slog through four hours of traffic, compounded by having to find a ride during rush hour (in some cases, six.) Tomorrow will be another day, and once the drivers go back to plying their routes, it’ll get a little better. But not by much, until government finds a way to stop treating operators and drivers as the enemy in order to address the root cause of the strike problem.

IT’S time to let him go.

Controversy seems to stick to Nicanor Faeldon like bubble gum to a shoe, and the guy can’t seem to shake it off. Except for a short and forgettable stint at the Office of Civil Defense, every other post Faeldon has held in the Duterte administration has been marked with scandal. It was not too long ago that P6.4 billion worth of shabu waltzed through the Bureau of Customs under Faeldon’s watch.

Despite the furor it caused, no big fish were caught in relation to that shipment; the authorities only managed to snag the poor caretaker of the warehouse. (Incidentally, the caretaker, Fidel Anioche Dee, was acquitted of drug possession charges by the Valenzuela Regional Trial Court.)

And now, this brouhaha because of the aborted release of convicted rapist and murderer Antonio Sanchez under Republic Act 10592, which expanded the existing good conduct time allowance under the Revised Penal Code. I remember watching one of Faeldon’s interviews in the early days of the controversy where he said that he doubted that Sanchez could qualify for good conduct time allowance, owing to the latter’s violations of prison regulations and even criminal laws during his incarceration. This statement effectively threw Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra under the bus, leaving the latter to defend the possible release of Sanchez (it was Guevarra who first said that Sanchez may be released under the GCTA, along with 11,000 inmates.)

Perhaps Faeldon thought that he was free and clear, leaving Guevarra to deal with the Sanchez mess. Then a copy of Sanchez’s release order for August 20, 2019 surfaced, thanks to enterprising journalists. Guess whose John Hancock was on the document? If you guessed Faeldon, then you win the grand prize, dear millennial and fillennial. Faeldon’s duplicity and intent to deceive is quite apparent in this instance, and cannot be denied. Add this to the disturbing development of the murder of one of Faeldon’s own officials at the Bureau of Corrections, Ruperto Traya Jr. in Muntinlupa City.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories but the fact that Traya was in charge of paperwork and documents in the Bureau of Corrections is an obvious red flag at the least, and there should be a thorough investigation to find out if Traya’s assassination is in any way connected to the Sanchez controversy.

Expect Faeldon to ignore calls for his resignation, with different variations of “I serve at the pleasure of the President.” Remember that at the height of the controversy over the shabu shipment, he stubbornly held on to his post, despite causing embarrassment to his principal, President Duterte. It’s quite obvious that Faeldon is unfamiliar with the concept of falling on his sword to save his principal from further trouble, especially in cases where he himself is the cause of embarrassment. Perhaps selfish is as selfish does, and reminds me of a story I heard about why Faeldon has long fallen out with the Magdalo folks: during their detention, they agreed not to attempt to escape detention to avoid getting their guards (who were their juniors in the military) in trouble. Faeldon was the only one who broke this agreement, and in fact mounted two escape attempts. Perhaps that shows us a glimmer of Faeldon’s motivations, where self-preservation seems to be paramount. We can only wonder how long Mr. Duterte’s tolerance of Faeldon will last. Hopefully, not long. And if that day should come that President Duterte lets Faeldon go, it should come with criminal charges.