The Senate tackles the tough problems
BEN KRITZ
IT’s comforting to know that while everyone’s attention has been focused on the House of Representatives’ effort to live up to the image of a third-world legislature, the Philippine Senate has been quietly taking on the tough issues, and solving the problems that really matter to the 106 million souls gracing these fair isles.
On Tuesday, while the dust was still settling from the chaotic leadership change in the House, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 1749, otherwise known as the Land Terminal Improvement Act. The proposed law is championed by Sen. Grace Poe, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services.
“With the approval of this measure, our land and Roll-On/Roll-Off (RORO) terminals will become oases for our travelers,” Poe said. That is because beyond simply requiring operators of “land transport terminals, stations, stops, rest areas, and RORO terminals” to provide clean and sanitary facilities for their passengers, SB 1749 also stipulates that every transport terminal must have a breastfeeding station, “and for the Instagram and Facebook generation, or for those who need to send important messages,” Poe added, “we will require free internet, Wi-Fi, or broadband to be provided in these terminals.”
Although Poe’s experience in riding an MRT train once gives her the vast knowledge needed to help set public transportation policy, she still seems to have a rather optimistic view of what constitutes a “transport terminal” in this country. Under the proposed new law, the four parking slots in front of Watson’s next to Savemore — the busiest transport terminal in my neighborhood, serving as a jeepney station for thousands of Manila-bound commuting workers and local shoppers — would be obliged to install a bathroom, a “breastfeeding station,” and some form of internet service.
This kind of nonsense is one of the things that make the idea of federalism appealing despite the manifold flaws and huge economic costs of the changes proposed by the current administration. SB 1749 is nothing more than another pointless, unenforceable, virtue-signaling declaration by a legislative body with no real portfolio.
Certainly, it would be nice if transportation hubs were equipped with some facilities for passenger comfort where possible. It’s not, however, a matter that should require an act of Congress. Transportation hubs are for the most part organic, and develop according to local requirements. thus, any necessary regulation of them is best handled at the local level.
The seemingly ad hoc terminal in my neighborhood, for example, is actually extremely efficient — it connects the main highway leading to Metro Manila with the secondary main road that distributes jeepney and tricycle routes to about half of the sprawling municipality where I live. It’s not an “oasis,” it’s a convenient location for the average commuter to connect his or her home with the metropolis with just a few walking steps in between. It works, and anything that’s needed to make it work better is something that can be managed by the city government.
Yet while the Duterte administration is at least making a verbal effort to reduce red tape and over-regulation in various aspects of government activity, of which letting local governments manage public transportation is one part, the Senate is attempting to impose even greater top-down direction to areas that don’t need it, perhaps in an attempt to validate its own existence. SB 1749 is not just foolishness that can be overlooked. It has taken time and resources from potentially more important concerns, and now, because it has passed the Senate, will become another part of the workload of the House of Representatives. Even if the lower house thumbs down the measure (which it should), it will still require some administrative handling and unproductive expenditure.
Whatever “charter change” will eventually amount to — and it seems likely it will amount to something, if not the complete draft proposal that has been presented to the country — the Philippines’ political leadership should at least ensure that it removes the dead weight that has plagued the current system since its exception. Eliminating the amateur star chamber of the Senate, or at least giving it a legitimate job to do in the political process, would be an excellent place to start.
ben.kritz@manilatimes.net
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