By Limuel Celebria
The government’s modernization plan for the transport sector, particularly the ubiquitous jeepney, must be delayed for another year or more because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put the world to a grinding halt.
In a privilege speech delivered during the Iloilo City Council’s first regular session for the year 2021, Councilor Romel Duron – chairman of the city council Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities, noted that quarantines and lockdowns implemented in the country to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus have impacted negatively on business and the economy. About 7.3 million Filipinos lost their jobs last year due to COVID-19 and many more were underemployed or suffered diminished income as a result of reduced working hours, he said.
Duron, a former official of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, said the transportation sector was crippled by the imposition of protocols allowing only a 50% capacity on passenger jeepneys. Because of this, Duron said, “the government’s plan of modernization must be extended, maybe a year or more.”
“I am not against the land transport modernization plan,” he stressed. “But I believe it sould be delayed further because of the pandemic which requires limited passenger capacity. Investing in the transportation business at this point is untimely.”
“Modernization is a must but the national government should help us in modernizing out land transport system. In my honest opinion, modernizing the public utility jeepney is not the solution to our traffic and environmental problems,” he added.
In a well-researched presentation to his colleagues in the local legislature, Duron cited facts and figures to describe the problems facing the transport sector in Iloilo City, particularly traffic congestion.
Duron, the council’s majority leader, disclosed: “Iloilo City has an area of 78.34 square kilometers and city roads totaling 72.11 kilometers. However, the overall length of transport corridors, including national and barangay roads, add up to 235.23 kilometers – making Iloilo City more developed than other regional cities like Bacolod, Davao, or Cagayan de Oro.”
“There are around 145,550 registered vehicles in Iloilo City and increasing at an average rate of 10% every year. There are around 2,500 public utility jeepneys in the city serving 80,000 commuters a day during normal times while private cars are approximately 35,000. The neighboring provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo have a combined number of 450,000 registered motor vehicles and roughly 10% of said vehicles enter Iloilo City daily.”
Clearly, Duron said, our road capacity is not enough to cater to motor vehicles entering the city and, expectedly, traffic will be a daily problem in the future. Already, Duron cites 17 problematic intersections in the city – including those at Gen. Luna, Diversion Road, R. Mapa (Mandurriao), Huervana (Lapaz), and the Circumferential Road junctions in Ungka and Hibaoan.
One of the more hardworking councilors, Duron has already completed and submitted to the Department of Transportation the Local Public Transport Route Plan for Iloilo City. Long pending in the city council, formulating the route plan has posed as a challenge to previous chairmen of the transport committee. Duron is hoping the route plan may help mitigate (although it may not solve) the transport problem.
“Inshalla, God permits, 2021 would be a better year,” he ended.
