SCUTTLEBUTT

Baggage from the past

The ineffective style of Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan resulted in his lack of awareness of the corrupt practices transpiring around him, which led to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. exposing them.

In 2020, the Department of Transportation mandated a shift to cashless toll collection across all expressways to reduce congestion and modernize operations.

SMC Tollways, then under Bonoan, introduced a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system called Autosweep on the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Skyway, and the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX), which was fully operational by 2022.

The transition to the new system was marred by technical glitches, including malfunctioning RFID scanners, incorrect deductions, and long queues at tollgates resulting from system downtime.

A November 2020 report detailed motorist complaints about being charged twice or stranded at tollgates, with SLEX’s Alabang and NAIAX toll plazas particularly affected.

In early 2021, the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) issued a warning to SMC for failing to meet reliability targets, noting that 10-15 percent of RFID transactions failed during peak hours.

It turned out Bonoan’s team underestimated the scale of training and infrastructure needed for a seamless rollout.

SMC’s aggressive push for RFID adoption, led by Bonoan, also lacked sufficient public communication, leaving drivers unprepared for the shift from cash. As a result, only 60 percent of SLEX users had RFID tags by mid-2021, according to SMC’s own data, despite Bonoan’s public assurances of readiness.

His response, which included offering free RFID stickers and temporary cash lanes, was perceived as reactive rather than proactive. The Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) was quoted as saying that it was a “management oversight” for not piloting the system adequately.

By 2022, just before his departure, a P1-million TRB fine was imposed on SMC for persistent NAIAX RFID issues, reflecting poorly on Bonoan’s oversight as CEO.

Tollgate congestion was a recurring issue on SMC-managed tollways until now, particularly at high-traffic points like SLEX’s Alabang, Calamba, and Skyway’s Buendia entrances, where daily vehicle volumes exceeded 400,000.

A 2019 DoTr audit flagged SMC for average wait times of 5-10 minutes at SLEX tollgates during peak hours, exceeding the TRB’s 3-minute standard.

Bonoan’s public statements attributed the congestion to “unprecedented vehicle growth,” but critics said he failed to prioritize scalable solutions, such as additional booths and dynamic lane adjustments.

The DPWH chief’s slow response and reactive nature appear to be his constant shortcomings, qualities that are certainly not befitting a Cabinet position.