PHL economy is losing big time on traffic jam

LONGER COMMUTE, EQUALS LESS PRODUCTIVITY

The gridlock plaguing the streets of Metro Manila is costing the Philippine at least P2.4 billion a day, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) cited in a study it released in September 2014 in conjunction with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

A year later, NEDA Director General Arsenio Balisacan estimated the economic loss from traffic jams at P3 billion a day, saying the amount is equivalent to 0.8 percent of the gross domestic product.

Without intervention, the economic cost of the daily gridlock is likely to reach P6 billion a day by 2030, JICA noted.

"The impact of traffic is horrendous. People spend so much time in getting a ride, getting to their respective offices," Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo, director of the Center for Labor Justice of the UP School of Labor and industrial Relations said in a phone interview on Friday.

The supposed 8-hour a day an employee must spend for work, rest, and socialization have now been reduced because of the gridlock, Ofreneo said.

"It's really terrible. It says a lot about the inability of the government to manage a public service," the director noted.

"We need a strong transport planning system. The government should play a big part in this," he said.

Unquantifiable ordeal

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) mirror's the situation by saying that the length of time a worker spends on commuting has lessened productivity.

"The productivity of workers is affected, because it now takes an average of three hours for a worker in Metro Manila to travel to work and another three to four hours to travel back home," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a separate interview.

"Productivity has been greatly lessened," he said.

"Since there are no dramatic changes implemented by the government to enhance the mass transport logistics and scenario in the past 14 years of the Arroyo and Aquino administrations, we can only imagine the unquantifiable ordeal workers are going through," Tanjusay noted.

As a result of the poor mass transport service, the TUCP has been calling on government and employers since 2012 to implement a flexible working time for state and private sector employees.

This includes a compressed, four-day work week, variable working hours, time banking, and work-from-home options.

Because of the gridlock, what is usually a 15-minute drive may last up to two hours, according to online financial platform MoneyMax.ph.

When a motorist is caught in a traffic jam and the engine is left running on idle, the car continues to consume fuel at the rate of 0.1 to 0.6 liter for every 10 minutes, MoneyMax noted, citing data from the Green Action Center.

"Fuel is one of the major costs of owning a car. If fuel costs P41 a liter, that’s at least P24.60 per hour (0.1 liters for every 10 minutes). If you multiply that by the extra 700 hours you spend in traffic in Metro Manila that translates to at least P17,220.00 wasted on fuel (and that’s if you’re only using 0.6 liters an hour)."

A long commute due to traffic makes workers less productive. Studies have shown that a strenuous commute increases the likeliness of irritability and fatigue which decreases a person’s performance on the job, MoneyMax added.

Saving P2.4B a day

A global survey by community-based traffic and navigation app Waze showed that Metro Manila has the worst of traffic jams.

The poll covered 50 million users in 32 countries and 167 metropolitan areas. The Philippines got a rating of 0.4 on a grading system of 10 (satisfying), to 1 miserable).

Citing data from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group this week attributed the latest gridlock to the Christmas rush.

PNP-HPG Chief Supt. Arnold Gunancao said in a radio interview that the number of private vehicles plying EDSA has exceeded the 120,000 per hour capacity by three times.

Public buses traversing Metro Manila's circumferential freeway have also increased from 1,200 to at least 7,000 in both directions.

In trying to resolve the gridlock, JICA prepared a transport infrastructure roadmap for Mega Manila – the Mega Manila Dream Plan, which was approved by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in June.

"JICA hopes to work with the government in implementing some of these ideas to help improve mobility, and the quality of life of people in Metro Manila, and its surrounding areas," JICA Philippines Senior Representative Eigo Azukizawa earlier said.

"An efficient public transport system is a pro-poor investment as it provides reasonable ways of moving. As well, it enables people to commute from suburban areas where one can afford housing in a more spacious and safer area," he added.

The dream plan is designed to help the country save P2.4 billion per day, the estimated economic and financial losses to traffic congestion.

JICA last month committed a P93-billion loan to fund the country's North-South Commuter Railway Project.

Japan said it will lend a total of ¥241.991 billion or P93.457 billion to finance the construction of the first phase of the railway project which stretches 36.7 kilometers from Malolos, Bulacan to Tutuban, Manila. – By JON VIKTOR D. CABUENAS, GMA News VS, GMA News

Labor groups push for ‘just transition’ in March for Climate Justice

Echoing the view of global trade unions that a shift to lower carbon economy is not just necessary but inevitable to address the worsening climate crisis, the coalition of labor groups Nagkaisa marched with multisectoral groups in the March for Climate Justice held in Quezon City this morning.

The group denounces corporate greed for spawning both a humanitarian and environmental crisis as manifested in the intensification of exploitative working conditions and the acceleration of climate change.

“When corporations rule under the framework of unlimited greed, workers endure the worst kind of exploitation. And when climate crisis worsened as tons of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere by oil and energy companies, mining and other hard industries, everyone suffers the brunt most particularly the poor people living in most vulnerable countries like the Philippines,” said Nagkaisa in a statement.

The group pointed out that while the country is less in carbon emission, her position of vulnerability can generate a powerful voice for demanding climate justice during negotiations.

“Unfortunately our government tailgated weakly behind the US position of simply having Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) process instead of playing hardball in pressing a return to binding cuts based on science and common but differential responsibility and which will limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” lamented Nagkaisa.

The group said that even with INDC process and actual submissions, the UNEP still anticipates a 4-6 degrees Celsius, rendering the COP ineffective.

Workers were also apprehensive of the fact that while governments are active in climate negotiations, the next one in Paris next week, most of them didn’t have a clear framework on how to fine-tune this transition to lower carbon economy in a manner acceptable to the people.

Nagkaisa is pushing the framework for a ‘just transition’ which promotes social justice and employment, requires active government intervention, and demands proportionate responsibility from all stakeholders, including business.

“The Philippines, for instance, has not explicitly declared a timeline to when fossil-fuelled power plants are finally phased out so that the transition is clearly plotted in favour of renewable energy and the creation of climate jobs,” the group said.

The coalition believes further that thousands of climate jobs can be created in the country in the shift to renewable energy, disaster response and building climate resilient communities that includes resettlement in climate-proof buildings and housing projects, as well as the greening of mass transport system.

“Funding is main requirement for this shift. In climate negotiations, the rich industrial nations must be made responsible in funding the transition of most vulnerable nations,” the group added.

Meanwhile, Nagkaisa said transition policies should not, in any way, transgress into the framework of decent work since regular job and social security help build the resiliency of many people against the wrath of Mother Nature.

After 4 years: TUCP elects new officials

CEBU, Philippines - After four years, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the country’s biggest labor center, has finally conducted an election of its new set of officials.

This after the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals to have TUCP elect its new set of officials and end the four-year impasse in its leadership.

Atty. Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the powerhouse Associated Labor Unions was elected as the acting president of TUCP. Also elected as the acting general secretary of TUCP was labor lawyer Atty. Arnel Dolendo of the Philippine Trade and General Workers’ Organization.

Veteran public sector representative Esperanza Ocampo, president of the Philippine Government and Employees Association, was elected as acting treasurer.

“The TUCP General Council elected hold-over officers in ‘acting’ capacity in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling affirming the Court of Appeals decision in the TUCP leadership issue,” said Mendoza in a statement.

Mendoza said the CA laid down the sequence they are following in order to ensure that they may now have a unified and legally recognized leadership.

“We need this so that the Filipino workers’ voice can be heard through a unified labor umbrella,” he said.

Mendoza explained that they have to elect an acting president since the late Senator Ernesto Herrera held the position only in an acting capacity. The CA decision requires that as acting president, Senator Herrera would have to convene the General Council to elect an acting General Secretary and thereafter, said General Council will have to set a convention to elect the regular officers of the TUCP.

“With the death of Sen. Herrera, the second phase of electing an Acting General Secretary and setting a convention could not be carried out. We are simply complying with the order of the Courts,” said Dolendo in the same statement.

The TUCP General Council, serving as the highest governing body after complying with the court orders and the Constitution and By-Laws has sent notices to the 28 labor/federation affiliates of the TUCP being the organic members of the of the labor center.

The council has set December 14, TUCP’s founding anniversary, as a tentative schedule for the general convention to elect its regular officials. Ocampo said all 27 bonafide member-federations of the TUCP were invited during the election and will also be invited to the convention. By Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NSA (FREEMAN)

Labor hits plan to hide homeless

THE country’s largest coalition of labor unions blasted the government Tuesday for trying to hide the homeless during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this month in Manila, prompting another denial from the Palace that the P4,000 given to each poor family was aimed at getting them out of the city during the event.

“The expanded or modified CCT [conditional cash trasfer] is part of a government program to promote poverty reduction and social development of the poorest of the poor in the country,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. The recent P4,000 dole, he added, was part of that program.

But Wilson Fortaleza, spokesman for Partido Manggagawa, one of 49 labor organizations belonging to Nagkaisa, said the government had hidden away the homeless before, during the papal visit in January, when it took them off the streets and booked them in a resort for the duration of the pope’s stay.

On Saturday, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the department’s project for the street families during Apec was a way of “reaching out” to the poor.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, however, said Soliman was planning to hid them again in resorts.

Ridon had earlier asked the DSWD if it would repeat its “vanishing act” on the homeless.

In response to Ridon, DSWD budget sponsor Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora said that the department could not commit to stopping the outings, since the modified CCT was still ongoing.

She added that such activities had been going on, even after the pope’s visit.

“I take that to mean, then, that the DSWD will be repeating this deplorable vanishing act during the Apec summit?” Ridon retorted.

Zamora replied: “The DSWD will continue with the [program] even during the Apec summit, because it is the mandate of the DSWD.”

DSWD has asked Congress for a P62.6-billion budget for the conditional cash transfer program for 2016.

“Today, DSWD not only confirmed that the policy of hiding poor families has continued, but that they will repeat this act come November. This, ladies and gentlemen, is your shameless government that continues to resort to sweeping the escalating poverty... under the rug,” Ridon said.

Vice presidential candidate and Senator Francis Escudero hit the government for its double standard in dealing with the homeless.

He said there was something “severely wrong” when the government could move swiftly to give street dwellers in Manila financial assistance to relocate because they were “eyesores,” while leaving more than 200,000 families who survived Typhoon “Yolanda” two years ago languishing in temporary shelters.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo earlier blasted the government for its plan to conceal the homeless during the Apec summit by giving them money to be used for renting temporary homes from Nov. 15 to 20.

Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte defended the DSWD, saying this was part of the government’s program to give homeless families “dignified living quarters,” and not because of Apec.

United Nationalist Alliance spokesman Mon Ilagan branded as “shameful” the government’s clearing of Metro Manila streets of homeless people.

He said “window dressing” poverty remains as the biggest moral scandal of the government.

“Why do you have to hide them? To cover up the inefficiencies of this government?” he also asked.

“The administration is ashamed of the poor but what’s more embarrassing is that after five years the numbers on poverty and hunger have worsened,” he added.

He said the “band-aid” solutions implemented by the administration have failed to address poverty. by Sandy Araneta With Macon Ramos Araneta / The Standard