Toilets for TODA terminals
Installing clean, well-maintained portable toilets, or portalets, at tricycle terminals is practical public-health measure.
FORMER Senator Cynthia Villar cuts the ceremonial ribbon during a turnover ceremony for a portable toilet at the tricycle terminal of the BFRSSCV-TODA Blue in Talon Dos, Las Piñas City.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF VILLAR FOUNDATION
Tricycle operators and drivers make up a significant part of local communities. Every day, they help transport residents to their destinations, braving the heat and the exhaustion that comes with being on the road.
Tricycle terminals serve as the drivers’ roof and resting area. However, trike stations commonly lack toilets. Without such facility, trike drivers may resort to informal “relief” areas, creating foul odors and sanitation risks. Or they would be forced to delay urination or defecation, which can contribute to urinary and gastrointestinal discomfort.
A toilet in a tricycle terminal helps keep the station clean thus also improving the public image of trike operators and drivers associations (TODAs). It also benefits passengers — especially older commuters, pregnant women, children, and persons with disabilities — as they gain a safer and more dignified option.
Installing clean, well-maintained portable toilets, or portalets, at tricycle terminals is a practical public-health measure that protects drivers, passengers, and nearby communities from unsanitary practices and preventable disease.
With this in mind, the Villar Foundation donated portalets to two TODAs in Las Piñas City serving residents of BF Resort, Sta. Cecilia Village and Veraville Grande subdivisions in Barangay Talon Dos.
On 10 October, former Senator Cynthia Villar, founder and managing director of Villar Foundation, turned over the portalets to the BFRSSCV TODA Blue and BFRV-VG Green TODA. Villar cut the ceremonial ribbon for the toilets.
The donation shows the Villar Foundation’s continuing support to transport groups, which requested the portalets.
“Our drivers are partners in the development of our community. They deserve our support, and their needs merit our attention,” the Foundation said in a Facebook post.
Portalets at tricycle terminals are a small investment with a broad payoff: healthier drivers, cleaner terminals, safer communities, and a simple acknowledgment that informal transport workers deserve the same basic workplace dignity as any other worker.