Transport & Roads – Infrawatch PH

DPWH corruption task force requires independent views

Oct 21, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank called on Public Works Secretary Mark Villar to include independent experts in the recently created DPWH anti-corruption task force to ‘call anomalies as they see it.’

“While we have absolute faith in the integrity of Secretary Villar, the department’s anti-corruption task force requires independent views to ensure that its findings will be transparent and made with integrity. Anything less will be perceived by the public as a ‘komite de abswelto’ if the task force will be composed of agency officials and personnel.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former urban poor chief of the Duterte administration.

Villar commits to work with advocacy groups

Ridon, who was a colleague of Secretary Villar in the 16th Congress, said he welcomes the commitment of Mr. Villar to work with advocacy groups to ensure transparent proceedings in the task force.

“We appreciate the direct response of Secretary Villar during Teleradyo’s interview that he is willing to work with advocacy groups to stamp out corruption in his agency. It is our commitment to provide him and the agency independent analysis and reporting on corruption allegations on specific public works projects.”

Legal bid rigging

Ridon said the main problem in government projects is what he deems as ‘legal bid rigging’ of government contracts if there are only single bidders in projects.

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“A review of infrastructure projects with only single bidders would show that its project prices offer no substantial variation from its approved budget, which is the ceiling price for all projects. In one of the more controversial DPWH projects in Metro Manila, the final contract price of P389-Million only had a 2.04% variance from the approved project budget of P398-Million.”

Ridon said this system allows corruption activities to be syndicated by private contractors and personnel in government agencies.

“Prior to the current public bidding law, government projects always require another bidder before any government procurement proceeds, to ensure the best, lowest prices for government given specific standards. This was removed in R.A. 9184, as it allows sole bidders to proceed with procurement as long the bidder possess all the legal, technical and financial requirements to proceed with the bid. What the law failed to see is that this mechanism allows parties to inflate contract prices through legal means, and it is the public that is left holding the bag.”

P357-Million housing project awarded to contractor with no experience

Ridon also said that in 2017, DPWH funds were used in a P537-Million socialized housing project, even if the project contractor had no background nor experience in the construction of public mass housing.

“During our stint as head of the urban poor commission, we objected to the use of DPWH funds for a housing project that involved a contractor that has not undertaken a single public infrastructure project above P150-Million yet had been awarded a contract to build socialized housing for P537-Million. In fact, the single biggest project undertaken by the said contractor was a P130-Million house construction project — for the owner of the construction company itself.”

Ridon said the contractor even rejected suggestions to engage a joint venture partner in order to comply with relevant rules on project track record and amounts.

“The contractor rejected this, despite its previous record of entering into joint ventures for other projects. Despite our objections, the socialized housing project was still awarded to the contractor. But let it be clear – as these are DPWH funds, this absolute lack of control over P537-Million public funds constitutes graft, if not plunder. The task force should take notice of this and it is our commitment to prosecute all those involved in this project even beyond the term of President Duterte.”

Tugade urged: Stop contactless cards on EDSA busway

Oct 2, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank called on Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to stop the implementation of contactless cards on the EDSA busway system until all public concerns are resolved.

“The contactless cards were foisted on the public a mere three days before its October implementation. At PH180 outright cash-out, this is equivalent to 32% of Metro Manila’s minimum wage. This is equivalent to eight days of roundtrip transport costs, without needing to pay transaction costs and maintaining minimum balance requirements. Worse, the new system allows ONLY ONE ROUNDTRIP before needing to top-up, as PHP65 is reserved as maintaining balance. This is nothing but a cash-grab during a pandemic.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House transport committee member.

32% of minimum wage

Ridon said without the new automatic fare collection system (AFCS) in place, the PHP 22 roundtrip minimum fare for ordinary buses is only equivalent to 4% of minimum wage.

“The price gap is very wide: PHP 180 is eight times more than PHP22. How can the ordinary factory worker be able to plan for more than a week’s allocation for transport costs?”

PHP 180 only pays for one round trip

“The situation for users of the EDSA busway system becomes worse, as soon as convenience fees and maintaining balances figure in the costs: For a usable load of PHP 100, a passenger can only make one day of roundtrip (PHP22) before needing to top-up, as PHP 65 is reserved as maintaining balance. Compare this to EIGHT ROUNDTRIPS without an AFCS using the same PHP 180, spread out across eight days. The math here cannot be disputed.”

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Convenience fee raises roundtrip costs by PHP 5

Ridon said government should focus on removing the convenience fees upon loading the Beep cards, as this effectively raises fare costs by PHP 5.

“The profit center for Beep cards is on the convenience fees each time users load their cards. For ordinary wage earners, they will usually top-up only for the required minimum load for a day’s roundtrip, which means they are charged convenience fees daily. This amounts to a revenue of at least PHP 1,500 per year per user. The same amount could instead be used by ordinary families for other necessities, especially during the pandemic.”

Ridon said the convenience costs should be borne by the busway consortium and operators.

“With AFCS in place, bus operators will save on labor costs from conductor salaries. Why then should busway users pay for convenience costs? The AFCS should be borne solely by the bus consortium and its operators.”

Pandemic profit

“With this, there should be no doubt in our minds that there appears to be a clear attempt to make profit at the expense of users of the new EDSA busway system, under the pretext of social distancing and the coronavirus pandemic. Wag naman po sana natin kawawain ang mga tao, may pandemya man o wala.”

Thinktank: No evidence for backride ban

Jun 5, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank questioned the insistence of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to continue the ban on backriding in motorcycles around the country.

“The risk of coronavirus transmission is present anywhere: workplaces, communities, transport services, markets. Yet these are now being allowed public access to stimulate the economy. This, despite a study that closed environments like these facilitate secondary coronavirus transmission. Government should give an evidence-based objection for banning motorcycle backrides instead on objecting on the basis of health concerns. Naglalaro lang po ba tayo dito?”

READ: Closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House transportation committee member.

Dual income households benefit

Ridon, who was President Rodrigo Duterte’s former urban poor chief, said that motorcycle backrides ease the economic burden for lower income families as it permits dual income households.

“More important, the burden on government social protection will also be eased, as two family members can now go to their workplaces without relying on public transport.”

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Evidence-based objection needed

Ridon said government should provide evidence that the risk of transmission in motorcycle backrides is greater than the risk of secondary transmission in workplaces and other public places.

“We cannot allow general objections and anecdotal impressions to dictate public policy, especially when there are real economic benefits and efficiencies in allowing motorcycle backrides.”

Ridon said the standing proposal is limited to backrides involving household members.

“This is not even a proposal to allow motorcycle taxis, but simply to allow household members the efficiency of transport to and fro their workplaces. Government should be reminded that for many employees, walking to work is unfeasible and P2P buses are unavailable in non-central locations.”

Ridon said the interior and health departments should conduct an actual study on the coronavirus transmission risks of backriding if they would insist on the ban.

“Marami pong mga pamilyang Pilipino ang makikinabang dito: Mga gumagawa ng paraan para iraos ang kanilang mga pamilya. Today is not the day to fail them.”

Tonedeaf Tugade pushing jeepney modernization despite pandemic

Jun 3, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank slammed Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for pushing his agency’s jeepney modernization program despite the coronavirus pandemic.

“The overarching public concern during the general community quarantine is to restart the productivity of Filipino families and unburden the government from the heavy costs of a social amelioration program. Insisting on jeepney modernization at this time is nothing but callous and tonedeaf leadership from the country’s transport chief.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House transportation committee member.

Modernization can wait

Ridon, who opposed the jeepney modernization as President Rodrigo Duterte’s former urban poor chief, said that jeepney modernization can wait after the pandemic is over.

“The concerns on roadworthiness has always been there, way before the pandemic. But why is Mr. Tugade is using this as a monkey wrench to deprive jeepney-dependent families of much needed income to tide them over until the end of the crisis?”

Ridon said given diminished incomes around the country, jeepney modernization will be unviable at this time.

“Nobody, even consolidated cooperatives, will deem it wise to undertake new, expensive loans until the binding coronavirus constraint is resolved. Who will take on new units if these will be deemed non-compliant with health protocols in the future? Correspondingly, how will they pay the loans?”

Allow jeepneys but respecting social distancing protocols

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Ridon said government should allow jeepney operations provided that social distancing protocols are observed.

“Mr. Tugade makes much about the difficulty in enforcing social distancing in jeepneys. But there are very recent studies that closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of COVID-19, yet transport agencies allowed the operation of trains, TNVS and P2P buses. These are obviously closed environments. Ano ba talaga kuya?”

READ: Closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Link: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029272v2

Duterte should intervene

Ridon said the President should now intervene to stop transport agencies from further wreaking havoc on the lives of jeepney-dependent families.

“Senator Nancy Binay is correct. Every day jeepney drivers fail to ply their routes, two-hundred fifty thousand families go hungry. And is there available social protection for them this June? There is none: the SAP has been sapped.”

Ridon said these transport policies has left the general public is literally on the road.

“Ultimately, it is the general public that is burdened by tonedeaf transport policies. We cannot expect them to earn a decent wage and live a decent life if they have to walk for hours on end to and from their workplaces and operate their machines for eight to ten hours. Mahiya naman tayo sa mga tao.”

Focus on crisis relief: Business takeover in coronavirus bill unconstitutional

Mar 23, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank said that the proposed coronavirus emergency response bill violates the 1987 Constitution by failing to prescribe reasonable terms in the takeover of public utilities and business imbued with public interest.

“Never have we seen such sloppily written legislation than this emergency coronavirus response bill. Not only does the bill fail to respond to the current reality the Filipino family faces, it seeks to unnecessarily commandeer private businesses which had already been responding effectively to the crisis.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House legislative franchises committee member.

Ridon said that the most basic constitutional requirement for the takeover of businesses during national emergencies is the institution of reasonable terms upon takeover.

Takeover approximates confiscation

“Under the emergency bill, the terms are absolutely unreasonable. For example, determination of the expiration of the temporary takeover is subject to presidential discretion, instead of a mutually-agreed upon, specific but extendible expiration date based on prevailing conditions. Insisting on this presidential discretion approximates an unjust taking, if not confiscation.”

Ridon said this provision opens the possibility that businesses taken over during the crisis may never be returned by government.

“This creates serious instability and uncertainty in the economy, and would definitely spook investors considering the Philippines.”

Businesses covered are overbroad

Ridon said that the bill does not limit businesses subject to takeover to those directly responding to the coronavirus crisis such as hotels and similar establishments.

“With hotels and similar businesses now also redefined as public utilities or businesses imbued with public interest, there is uncertainty on which public utilities and businesses may be subjected to temporary takeover. Will this now include all other public utilities which may ‘be used in addressing the needs of the public,’ such as power distribution and transmission companies, water utilities, broadcast companies? As such, anything and everything is fair game for a temporary takeover.”

Uncertain recipient of compensation

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Ridon said the bill makes serious conceptual errors on entities eligible to receive compensation payment due to the government takeover.

“The bill confuses elementary legal concepts of payment, ownership and possession, as it provides the payment of reasonable compensation to the possessor of the property or business. The possessor of a property or a business is not always the owner, and the owner or the possessor of a property or business is not always the valid recipient of payments. As an example, if government retains possession of the property or business beyond the crisis, should the government as the possessor pay itself the reasonable compensation just because it retains possession? No. But the emergency bill makes it so.”

Ridon said the private sector instead should be allowed to address the national crisis without the spectre of vague, unreasonable temporary takeover, noting that private enterprises have already raised at least P1.5-Billion to contribute to the national effort.

Focus on crisis relief

Ridon, who was a former urban poor chief of the Duterte administration, said these should be reason enough for Congress to focus instead on actual crisis relief for Filipino individuals, families and small businesses.

“There is nothing in the emergency bill which details with particularity new economic programs which the government will undertake. This is in sharp contrast from foreign governments such as the United States which is proposing stimulus checks amounting to $1200 per person and $500 per child.”

Ridon said the bill cannot even be considered a supplemental spending bill.

“Make no mistake. This bill seeks emergency powers for the President, nothing else. It is not even the supplemental spending bill which the public had been expecting from the very beginning.”

Ridon said Congress exercise the power of the purse instead of surrendering everything to Malacanang.

“As proposed, the bill is nothing but a blank check granted to the executive to realign public funds: an unconstitutional surrender of congressional power. They have the power today to determine as line items how to help the public during this emergency, they should not waive this power.”

Public service act amendment surrenders Congress’ mandate to regulate critical sectors

Feb 19, 2020

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank said that House Bill No. 78, which amends the Public Service Act, has omitted critical regulated sectors from the ambit of legislative franchise approval: broadcast, telecoms, tollways, airlines and rail.

“While the authors proselytize the impact of the measure on competition and foreign investment, what is left unsaid is that critical regulated sectors, such as broadcast, telecoms, tollways and airlines, which currently require legislative franchises, will no longer be subject to direct congressional scrutiny. This is nothing but a surrender of the public interest over critical regulated sectors. This is a surrender of Congress’ constitutional mandate.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House legislative franchise committee member.

Ridon said these regulated sectors will now be answerable directly only to administrative agencies such as the National Telecommunications Commission, Civil Aeronautics Board, Toll Regulatory Commission on matters concerning the businesses’ operations.

Congress diminished

“The very public discussions in Congress on the franchises of ABS-CBN and Mislatel should give the legislature pause on surrendering its mandate under this bill. The public needs wider discussions on the intersecting interests of business and public welfare.”

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Ridon said Congress was also instrumental in immediately resolving issues relating to flight delays of a local airline in 2015.

“By removing these sectors from the list of industries considered as public utilities, the primacy of public interest is diminished. The stature of Congress is diminished, as these businesses can now operate without the fear of direct congressional scrutiny.”

Talk shop

Ridon said the public would like to be able to complain at the level of Congress on issues such as unreliable mobile internet, airline overbooking, unscrupulous railway maintenance schemes, among others.

“With these amendments, there is a real tendency that Congress will now be relegated as a talk shop on issues but with no real consequences on business conduct.”

Panelo, Tugade contradict Duterte on transport crisis

Oct 14, 2019

An infrastructure-oriented thinktank said that Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade contradict previous statements of President Rodrigo Duterte by dismissing Metro Manila’s ‘transportation crisis.’

Duterte, Tugade described Metro traffic as crisis in 2016

“As early as a week before his presidency, President Rodrigo Duterte had sought emergency powers to fix traffic congestion in Metro Manila. And no less than incoming Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said a ‘transport crisis’ will have to be declared by Congress in order for Mr. Duterte to address the emergency situation. Nothing significant has changed from 2016 to date, so why are Cabinet officials suddenly scrambling to put the transport crisis under the rug?”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former House transportation committee member.

Tugade contradicts self on Metro crisis

Ridon, who served as Mr. Duterte’s urban poor chief, said government should make up its mind on what itself had described as a crisis in 2016 in order to avoid falling into a clear policy contradiction.

In fact, Mr. Tugade had said in June 2016, “If this is not a crisis what is? Yung quality of life natin nabababoy na. Mas madami na tayong ginagastos na oras sa kalsada.”

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Yet last week, Mr. Tugade has been singing a clearly contradictory tune.
“Kagaya ng niliwanag ko, merong transport problem, merong transport issues — that is given, pero ina-address siya. Komo ba may transport problem, may transport issue, you know, meron nang transport krisis?” Tugade said.

Ridon said this can only be described as a ‘shameless face-saving’ to avoid getting the ire of the public, if not the President.

“Secretary Panelo should not even obfuscate between a transport or traffic crisis. Both are the same as far as the public is concerned, as traffic congestion is certainly the results of poor transport systems in Metro Manila,” Ridon said.

Duterte: Let EDSA rot there

Ridon said no less than President Duterte remarked that he will just ‘let EDSA rot there,’ which essentially describes a crisis in the nation’s capital.

“Regardless of what anyone thinks about the President’s utter disregard for Metro Manila’s transport situation, Mr. Duterte has made a correct, albeit grim observation. With cabinet officials contradicting the President’s observation, we are more than certain that what needs to be done, clearly will not get done.”

Politiko: Tugade gives up on emergency powers to solve EDSA traffic

Sep 30, 2019

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary for Road and Transport Infrastructure Mark Richmund de Leon revealed that Secretary Art Tugade was no longer pushing for emergency powers to unclog EDSA’s hellish traffic.

De Leon was asked by lawyer Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor during a technical working group meeting to clarify the DOTr’s definite position on its request for emergency powers.

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Inquirer: DOTr no longer wants emergency powers to deal with metro traffic woes

Sep 30, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has informed a Senate panel that it is no longer seeking the grant of emergency powers to address Metro Manila’s traffic woes.

“We actually received a message from (DOTr) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade that he echoes that statement of the President that he will no longer seek for emergency powers,” DOTr Undersecretary for Road and Transport Infrastructure Mark de Leon was quoted as saying during a technical working group (TWG) meeting led by the Senate public services committee.

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In a statement on Wednesday, committee chair Senator Grace Poe said De Leon made the pronouncement when lawyer Terry Ridon of Infrawatch PH convenor asked DOTr during the TWG meeting last Monday to clarify the agency’s position on its request for emergency powers.

Senate: Grace Poe panel takes up traffic plan anew in talks on October 2

Sep 30, 2019

The Senate Committee on Public Services chaired by Sen. Grace Poe is set to conduct on Oct. 2 its third technical working group (TWG) meeting on the government’s transportation roadmap to address the traffic crisis in Mega Manila.

Poe said 3Ps should be in place before the passage of a law on traffic.

Meanwhile, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary for Road and Transport Infrastructure Mark Richmund de Leon clarified that the department is no longer pushing for emergency powers to expedite the implementation of the agency’s transport roadmap.

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De Leon made the statement when asked by lawyer Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and one of the invited stakeholders, to clarify the DOTr’s definite position on its request for emergency powers.