“With a population of 12.9 million, hours that the road are at a standstill in Manila is about 20 percent more than anywhere else in the region.

The transport strike yesterday provided an insight on the varied ways obstructionists hamper President Rody Duterte’s administration from achieving its aim to ease the lives of Filipinos.

The protest actions against the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program disrupted schools and offices which were canceled in Metro Manila.

The modernization of public transport, mainly the phaseout of dilapidated jeepneys, has been in the agenda of many administrations, but hostile groups mainly Left-wingers got in the way while previous administrations failed to offer any convincing alternative to the post-World War 2 contraptions.

Jeepneys admittedly are cultural icons, which needed preservation, but they can exist with some modification in places outside the congested urban centers of the country since the developing cities badly need an orderly public transport system.

Right now, the mayhem caused by buses and jeepneys operating individually results in too many of them on regular days, even during off hours, causing the whole-day traffic mayhem and nearly their absence during critical periods, such as when a fairly strong rain or “bed weather” inspires most of the drivers to go home and take a nap.

Related to the resistance to modernization is the problem that is given many names such as “carmageddon” and national gridlock, which is the whole-day road congestion.

To those suffering the daily ordeal on Metro Manila’s roads, being stuck in traffic is about precious time wasted through forced lethargy which is a source of daily stress.

It is not a difficult problem to solve; in fact, had political grandstanding not intervened, most of the projects lined up should have been completed and have already provided relief.

The Palace had proposed to Congress interim emergency powers for Rody to give him a free hand in addressing the adverse situation, which had accumulated over years of neglect under the previous regime.

Without any meaningful infrastructure built during the term of former President Noynoy Aquino, the problem bloated and hit crisis proportions midpoint of the Duterte administration, since population and the volume of vehicles have grown almost geometrically as a result of economic advancement that remains centered in capital Manila.

A recent report of the Asian Development Bank showed that Metro Manila is the most congested city in Asia.

With a population of 12.9 million, hours that the road are at a standstill in Manila is about 20 percent more than anywhere else in the region.

The lack of projects was worsened by the underspending of the budget in the past regime resulting to the government-run train systems to become dilapidated. The few projects undertaken in Noynoy’s watch were also subjected to abuse, such as the Metro Rail Transit-3 rehabilitation that resulted to practically rolling disasters that include trains running with open doors.

Sen. Grace Poe acted the role of the Leftist transport groups in the Senate by her obstructionist rejection of extra authority to Rody in addressing problems on the main Metro Manila arteries.

Through the three years of Rody’s term, the painstaking effort to remove the problems that had built up in a heap previously continued, but the economic leap resulted in still more vehicles even as new infrastructure promises an easing of the problem.

The oppositionists ready credo of change, however, had one thing in common in that they have a motivation that is not the solving of problems confronting Filipinos, but only in advancing their personal opportunistic aims.

Leftist transport groups pursue destabilization to pave the way for a communist takeover while Poe of course eyes a 2022 run.