Metro Manila in the new normal: A call for access and mobility

With the pandemic-induced economic crisis, the country has faced major losses due to businesses shutting down, stock prices plummeting, and increased unemployment rate. Workers have had no choice but to do whatever it takes to survive even if they must place themselves at risk during their daily commute. Despite quarantine measures and social distancing protocols, traffic conditions and congested PUVs still persist, placing citizens at risk of being infected by COVID due to the daily commute.

Given the risks brought by public transportation, many people in the Philippine capital region invested in private means of transportation. Instead of cars, they chose to purchase motorcycles (usually through installment payments) to allow themselves to maneuver their way into the city. But as fuel prices rise by the moment, they opt to buy even simpler modes of transportation such as bicycles, electric bicycles, and the like.

Regardless of various efforts to ease the burdens of pedestrian travel, certain aspects remain neglected. Lighting has for so long been a major issue to pedestrians especially to those who use sidewalks, overpasses, and underpasses. The major problem that must be pointed out here is that lighting endeavors are only “reactivated” by most cities every time the election campaign draws near.

The politics of road access

Road access is a means to define who the city is for. And despite various road constructions and development projects taking place within Metro Manila, these roads seem to be a path that is exclusive only to those who could produce money, and thereby have access to cars and private roads. 

Arc. Joanne Camello of Bluprint – a Philippine authority on architectural design – explains the country’s urban development in three themes: building more, appeasing the rich, and boosting the economy. Camello primarily pointed out that for some cities, there are cases wherein corporate and large-scale conglomerates are taking up the role of “pseudo sponsors” and adopting the city’s efforts to improve its infrastructure and overall construction.

As championed by the current administration, Build Build Build infrastructure projects follow the theme of providing access to the city business centers to improve the country’s economy and provide more opportunities for further growth. In the case of the Pasig River Expressway (PAREx) – a major construction project that is aligned to the government’s road-widening endeavors – it has been criticized for compromising the Pasig River’s functional integrity given that it is Metro Manila’s major waterway to counteract floods. Moreover, it poses grave threats and negatively affects whatever greenery that is left in the area, contributing to increased air pollution within the vicinity along with it. Sustainability and economic growth should not work against each other, but rather there need to be practical solutions that take both into consideration.

What lies behind this facet of splendor are the unsung struggles one must pay as a toll for living in the city. In spite of calls to visit and reinvest in the city, the lack of transport access for disadvantaged citizens makes this invitation increasingly exclusive.