HE said — SHE said

He helped highlight traffic on our roads, which deducts good money from each of us and the country’s coffers for all the wasted time.

Nobody expected presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo to admit to a transport crisis when he took the challenge aired by some militants for government officials to take public transport in lieu of the convenience of their chauffeur-driven cars.

Panelo, however, was game enough to feed the ego of government critics and took four jeepney rides from Marikina to Malacañang.

It was a humbling experience for the Palace mouthpiece.

His rides, which included a hitch on a motorcycle, on his way to Malacañang were no ordinary stunt that other government officials, like Grace Poe and Mar Roxas, have done in the past.

Panelo risked being heckled, and he was booed — during and after — by a very mean social media which does not choose its targets and victims.

The spokesman scored on that one. That we have to admit.

It was no easy ride. It took him some 15 minutes less of four hours to get to his destination, which should have taken just 37 minutes (14.5 kilometers) via R-6, 40 minutes (17.6 kms) via E. Rodriguez Ave. and R-6, and 41 minutes (19.4 kms) via Quezon Avenue/ R-7.

But those travel times can only happen on a good day, or via a miracle.

Panelo admitted there are problems somewhere. But there is no transport crisis, he said.

While Roxas and Poe had taken the faster train lines to prove their points in the past, assisted by their security details and train management and covered by the media — of course — Panelo tried to project the opposite.

He did not travel with an obvious entourage. But he got covered by the media — of course — as it was a spectacle applauded even by those who challenged him to do so.

The so-called “transport challenge,” however, achieved nothing but that — a media coverage that solved nothing of the many problems raised by the militant groups and Panelo himself.

The traffic problem that all governments, from Marcos to Duterte, tried to solve only worsened.

Metro Manila is saturated with people. It smells of the sweat of workers that make it grind 24/7, from the muscles that build its buildings at day to the rushing BPO workers beating time at night.

Philippine economy has also taken leaps since the ouster of Marcos that gave rise to a new middle class that can afford to buy automobiles.

Cars are now easier and cheaper to buy. Auto loans can be had in 15 minutes from competitive banks. There’s no down payment for some models and more people have disposable cash despite the population swelling and creating a wider base of people wallowing in poverty.

Public transportation has failed to advance and improve against all these. And while the fringes of Metro Manila have tried to get their share of development, we continue to get drawn to the big cities for work opportunities because the salaries offered in the provinces are way less, while prices of commodities they buy are the same.

Government found this hard to balance, and it will stay the same for years or decades more.

Panelo, the voice we hear every day explaining the Palace’s take on issues, could not explain these in one sitting. He answers queries on various subjects when he meets the media. His jeepney rides were just one of them.

He helped highlight traffic on our roads, which deducts good money from each of us and the country’s coffers for all the wasted time.

The militants, meanwhile, have legitimate complaints aired first by the people for the government to consider.

There was no winner in that challenge. Because every time we set out to go to work, visit a friend, take an ailing relative to a hospital, attend classes in school, see a dermatologist, or do a chore, we lose precious minutes that we could not buy back.

Those minutes spell life, money, happiness and everything else taken away by our leaders’ (past and present) lack of vision and empathy, or our own lack of discipline to help create a moving, unobstructed world that allows each and every one of us to feel better and be better.

It is no joke when people say, “It’s traffic everywhere.”

These days, getting to and from one’s place of work can be a tortuous, time-consuming, energy-draining experience, especially for commuters who must daily face the prospect of not getting a ride as soon as one wishes just to get to a place on time.

Consider the travails to get a ride alone, standing in long lines under the heat and humidity, sometimes rain, then getting to one’s destination through endless traffic.

Really, it’s everywhere. For motorists who use the Waze app, there may be different routes to choose from, but the traffic situation stays the same. One does not always get to a destination as fast as they used to.

No surprise then that presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo got whipped on social media for his cavalier attitude toward this painful reality which led to his “silly” (his word) “commute challenge.”

Panelo spent almost four hours to get from Quezon City to Malacañang. That, everyone knows, is no joke — and there is nothing remotely silly about it.

This is reality for many Filipinos, and something that cannot ever be dismissed as another one of those things we should endure because we are living.

That daily grind is not what one would call “living” — it is an effort in surviving. It is draining and troublesome and simply depressing if you think there is no other recourse.

What has traffic done to our lives? We spend more time being unproductive on the road. Our stress levels increase, bringing possible illness. We spend less time sleeping because waking up extra early is now a must even if you got home extra late the night before — and not even because you were partying!

When you get home, either your loved ones are already about to turn in for the night — goodbye, quality time — or you still have a ton of household matters to catch up on.

You hardly have time for friends or for yourself, let alone for vacations. Before you know it, the best years of your life are almost over.

It is even more demanding on women who work and have children, because traffic robs them of precious time for family. And please don’t say they can always quit working. Nowadays, a double-income household is necessary especially for those who have kids or are supporting their families.

Perhaps Panelo may have rubbed off people the wrong way with his dismissal of traffic as “not a crisis.”

Perhaps from the vantage point of an air-conditioned, dark-tinted car with a driver, to boot, the situation is not the pure hell it can be when you are exposed to the elements and pollution. To those chauffeured around and given privileges, it is only a matter of patience during slow traffic, and maybe some inconvenient rough patches on roads because of the ongoing “Build, Build, Build” projects to improve transport in the metro.

That one-dimensional view took a turn after the palace spokesman decided to detach himself from his reality and experience being one of the hordes.

A stickler for words, Panelo in a news article explained his “no crisis” comment like this: “Mayroong traffic crisis pero hindi transportation crisis kasi when you say transportation crisis wala ka nang sinasakyan, paralyzed ang buong traffic (There is a traffic crisis but not a transportation crisis because when you say transportation crisis you can no longer get a ride. Traffic is paralyzed),” he told reporters.

He then offered encouragement by saying that the Duterte government is “looking for solutions” and that the need for change is being recognized and acted upon.

It is always a good thing to recognize a problem — the one of traffic has had its stops and starts through various administrations. This time, maybe there is hope we will finally get unstuck and get moving, faster than it’s ever been.