[sustran] Philippines: PT-related deaths, delayed rail project, Binay as President?

Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory edelman at greenidea.eu
Mon Nov 10 04:42:27 JST 2008


Death in our highways
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco Updated November 10, 2008 12:00 AM
<http://beta.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=414033>

I don't think there has ever been a night when TV Patrol World did not 
report at least two fatal road accidents. Some road accidents are more 
sensational than others... like the one where a prominent eye doctor was 
killed when his car was sideswiped by a bus that was racing another bus 
past midnight on EDSA.
Last week, the newscast compiled the day's harvest of accident reports 
and garnished it with fresh statistics from the Department of Health 
(DOH) that proclaimed this grim reality: road accidents are now the 
fourth leading cause of death in the Philippines. Many of these 
accidents are preventable. Physical fatigue, a demanding "boundary" 
system, lack of respect for traffic rules and plain stupidity are among 
the leading causes of death in our highways.  

Those motorcycle riders who get themselves killed or injured because 
they were drunk while operating the motorcycle, didn't wear helmets and 
went the other way on a one way street probably deserved to die and thus 
prevent their seed from polluting the nation's gene pool. Stupidity is 
inexcusable. At least these stupid motorcycle riders, in most cases, 
only kill or injure themselves. Bus and jeepney drivers who take stupid 
risks on the road tend to kill many innocent victims.

But while these bus (and jeepney) drivers always take the blame, it is 
apparent that they could be victims of our make shift transportation 
"system". The "boundary" system where the drivers effectively pay rent 
for the right to drive the bus (or jeepney) for a day could be what's at 
the root of our problem. They have to earn their "boundary" first before 
they even pocket their first peso.

Bus drivers abroad who work on a salary are more inclined to follow the 
rules and even keep to a strict schedule of stops in designated points. 
Here, a dog-eat-dog competition for passengers has bred some of the most 
ill-mannered and dangerous drivers anywhere. Last Friday, TV Patrol 
World showed video clips of jeepney drivers who were zigzaging as if 
they were in a Formula 1 race... to compete for potential passengers.

The "boundary" system also makes the drivers work longer than they 
should. A bus driver told the ABS-CBN reporter he usually starts his 
daily grind at 4 a.m. He drives for 18 straight hours until 12 midnight. 
"Sometimes it's being sleepy," the driver said. "That's the main problem 
of drivers... sleepiness."

According to Dr. Cecile Magturo of the DOH, fatigue, due to long driving 
hours, contribute greatly to drivers losing control of their vehicles. 
When fatigue sets in, it is not unusual for drivers to become irritable. 
This, according to health experts, leads to driving errors and accidents.

"Drivers are bent on trying to reach their quota, that is where we have 
problems, accompanied by fatigue," Dr. Magturo told the ABS-CBN reporter.

Magturo said she blames operators and concerned agencies for their 
insufficient safety policies. If the trend continues, health officials 
said they fear that road accidents could become the leading cause of 
deaths in the country by the year 2020.

The LTO official interviewed by ABS-CBN said they will look into 
limiting the number of hours a driver can be allowed to drive. It 
invites questions on how they are going to implement a rule like that. 
If the boundary system remains, drivers themselves will complain that 
reduced hours will prevent them from earning as much as they can. And 
even if they require a personal booklet for every bus driver that logs 
their time on the road, who is to ensure that the entries are true or 
even half accurate.

Today, our land transportation officials seem to merely tiptoe around 
the problem. Yes, it is good that they have required bus drivers to 
undertake extensive seminars on traffic rules, proper behavior on the 
road and even basic exercises to relax themselves and fight fatigue 
while driving. Maybe they should also impose a rule requiring buses to 
have seat belts. If cars are required by law to have seat belts, there 
is more reason for public vehicles to have those safety belts.

But there is likely a need to finally look into the "boundary" system 
and require operators to pay fixed salaries to their drivers. Market 
risk should be assumed by operators rather than drivers because they are 
more financially able to meet it than the drivers. We have to remove the 
prime motivation for bad driving which is the fight to the death for 
passengers specially on EDSA where it is obvious there are more buses 
than there are passengers on any given day. The LTFRB has blood on its 
hands for issuing more bus franchises on EDSA than the market can support.

Unless our authorities decide it is time to fix our public transport 
system from the ground up, death on our highways will always be part of 
the nightly newscast. That would make our highways extremely dangerous 
for every one, not just for the folks who use public transportation. The 
next one who dies at the hands of these drivers could be the LTO or 
LTFRB chiefs.

*Railroad project*

According to the Financial Times, a railroad building project worth $8.3 
billion being undertaken by China Railway Construction Corp. in Nigeria 
is being put on hold pending investigation. In a stock market filing, 
CRCC said Nigeria's transport ministry had taken over control of work on 
the 1,315 km line between southern Lagos city and northern Kano. It 
would take about 90 days to "redefine" the scope of the contract.

The Export-Import Bank of China, a policy lender, promised to back the 
project with $1bn in soft loans, but it appears to have fallen victim to 
a broad review of deals agreed under Nigeria's previous president. 
Reuters quoted a Nigerian presidential spokesman saying last week: "The 
federal government had suspended the execution of the Chinese railway 
contract because this administration had discovered that the contract 
was over inflated."

"Everything about the contract was wrong. There was no fund allocated 
for the project other than a promise by the immediate past 
administration to give the Chinese company an oil block." he added. CRCC 
is formerly the railway-building unit of the People's Liberation Army. 
It also signed a $300-million road project in Nigeria.

Oh well... it sounds eerily like our North Rail project which is still 
on hold. Arsenio Bartolome III, former president and CEO of Northrail, 
recommended the termination of the contract with the Chinese firm after 
it unilaterally suspended the construction work and demanded close to 
$300 million in additional costs to continue the project. He said 
contractor China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. Group (CNMEG) 
made it onerous for the Philippine government to continue the project. 

The new head of the project, after a few months of study, had 
recommended proceeding by accepting the increased costs the Chinese 
want. The not so funny thing is, we have spent a bundle on it already, 
displaced thousands of squatter families and not an inch of rail had 
been laid about four years after the project was supposed to have been 
started. This is an embarrassment to both the Chinese government and Ate 
Glue's administration.

The funny thing is, the NorthRail Project is a major component of the 
Strong Republic Transit System and is among Ate Glue's priority 
projects. Yet, it is going nowhere. If she can't get her own priority 
project going, what can she do?

Last July 14, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila confirmed 
that "Manila has agreed to keep the $400-million Northrail project under 
the state-owned China and National Machinery Equipment Group (CNMEG). He 
declined to elaborate."

Favila's confirmation, according to GMA7 News, indicated that Malacañang 
has given CNMEG 45 days to begin the project anew. That was 123 days ago 
and we haven't heard a pip yet. In 2004, China agreed to provide some 
$400 million worth of funds to begin construction. It is considered as 
the largest Chinese project in Southeast Asia.

Now that the Nigerians are also having the same experience, maybe we 
should be extra careful in signing up similar large projects with the 
Chinese. Then again, from what I hear, our side is more than worthy of 
the blame too. The Chinese may probably even be victims, if you know 
what I mean.

*Parallelisms*

Have you noticed how we follow the pattern of Americans in electing 
Presidents?

They elected General Eisenhower. We elected General Ramos.

They elected actor Ronald Reagan. We elected actor Erap Estrada.

Their Supreme Court elected the son of a former President. Our Supreme 
Court elected the daughter of a former President. 

Because they elected their first black President... in 2010, we are 
destined to elect Jejomar Binay.

Parang iginuhit na ng tadhana, di ba, Jojo?

Boo Chanco's e-mail address is bchanco at gmail.com <mailto:bchanco at gmail.com>



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