Albay solons oppose
Salceda says stopping provincial buses from entering Metro Manila'antipoor, antiprobinsyano'
By Mar S. Arguelles
oz @msarguelleslNQ
"1 d
)&lrl LEGAZPI C|TY-Lawrnakers in
@ while provincial buses num-
<d Albay province have opposed the
\z
s> ,. De\relopment Authority (MMDA)
plan of .the Metopolitan Manila
.F= to stop provincial buses from ply-
=t ing Edsa and t}le transfer of their
stations to a terminal dt Santa
Rosa City in laguna province.
Albay Rep. Fernando conza-
lez (third district) and Ako Bicol
Rep. Alfredo carbin on Saturday
joined Rep. joey Salceda (second
district) in opposing the plan.
The MMDA said the ban
could help ease traffic conges-
tion in Metro Manila- Tfre agen-
cy was planning to close 46 ter-
minals for provincial buses and
other public utility vehicles
(PUVS) on Edsa byJune.
Bub operators will be relocat-
ed to terminals in the cities of
Paranaque, Santa Rosa and Valen-
zuela where passengers nay
transfer to Metro-bound Plws.
Salceda, in an interview,
said the banwould cause "great
economic disruption, inconve-
nience, expenses and damages
to multintdes of commuters to
and from as far as the Visayas
and the Bicol region."
,
j
MANILA-BOUND The L6gazpi City Grand Terminal in Albay
province is busyon Sundpys as passengers return to Metro Manila.
He called the ban "antipoor
and antiprobinsyano."
Solution
Salceda, Go\zalez and
Garbin, in separate interviews,
agreed that one ofthe solutions
to the worsening Metro Manila
traffic situation Was for the
government to roll out an "effi-
cient, effective and affordatrle"
mass transportation system.
They recommended that
^
PUVs, such as buses and com-
muter trains, be managed and
operated by the government,
citing the transportation sys-
l
tems of New York, Canada and
Japan as examples,
"If the MMDA thinks that
t}Iis (bus ban) can solve the
Metro Manila traffic problem, .
then they are wrong because the
only solution to this is for the
government to provide an effi.
cient, effective and affordable
trarsport system," Garbin said.
"The reason we have mil.
lions of private vehicles plying
Edsa is because we don't have a
public transport being man-
aged and operated by the gov-
ernment," he said.
Salceda, citing transporta-
s PAqcr
tioh statistics, said there were
2.8 million cars inMetro Manila
bered only4,ooo.
"Who do you think is actu-
ally causing traffic?" he asked
in Filipiilo.
'Sacrlficial lambs'
Salceda said at least 1,soo
buses from southern lruzon were
plying the Meto Manila route,
while another 2,5oo were sewic-
ing northbound passengers. He
said 236 buses were plying the
Albay-Metro Manila route.
Gonzalez said he had alrcady
discussed this matter witi catan-
duanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento,
chair of the House committee on
transportatiorl He said the com-
mittee had passed a resolution
asking the MMDA to defer the
implementation of its order.
"Let us look for other ways
to address the problem without
making provincial buses and its
passengers sacrificial lambs,"
Gonzalez said.
"The ban is unacceptable
and it will be chaotic for Bi-
colano bus riders and also
fthose from the] Visayas and
Mindanao," he added.
According to Salceda, the ban
-Altl,
shifts the burden of inconve-
nience to provincial commuters,
particularly students, small,
traders and families with rela-
tives .in Metro Manil4 as they '
wi.ll now have to pay extra fare.
Salceda said the ban was an-
tipoor since most provincial bus
passengers were ttnse who could
only pay fures lower tllan Ptooo.
lnconvenience
"This measure is injurious
to poor rural people in terms of
additional inconvenience, ;d-
ditional minimum fare, addi-
tional time to destinatidn and
double loading," he said.
'Albayano fiaders and com-
muters, especially tiose who can-
not afford more expensive air
tansportatior! are being deprived
of their mobility," he added
"While each bus can carry
5o, each car carries only five.
So, theoretically, if you have
3,ooo buses from the
provinces, you are exchanging
them for 15,ooo more cars on
Edsa," he said.
Technically, instead of one
provincial bus bringing in 50
passengers, they fvill now need
fourjeepneys to ferry rz people
each, Salceda sai{. rNQ