www.teamasia.com.ph

Home > Media Articles > Home > Services

< Back

Totally Unresponsive Government
By Michael Alan Hamlin
December 06, 1999

I started a little experiment this week — with considerable encouragement from Parañaque residents — in the interest of ascertaining just how responsive — or unresponsive — government agencies can be to constituent concerns (Full Disclosure: I am also a resident of Parañaque and am almost indescribably unhappy with the local government.). The experiment centers on the bizarre intersection of South Superhighway, Sucat Road, and the West Service Road.

Although the improvements to the South Superhighway at grade level and the completion of the Bicutan to Buendia portion of the Skyway have made life immeasurably less stressful for residents, those gains have been largely offset by the mismanaged chaos associated with the Sucat and West Service Roads during the administrations of Parañaque mayor Joey Marquez and Muntinlupa mayor Jaime Fresnedi.

The intersection sits on the border of the two municipalities, and there appears to be some debate over which municipality is responsible for the intersection, and what role the Department of Public Works and Highways plays in its upkeep, since the West Service Road is a national road. As a result, none of the government offices have done anything to maintain the intersection since it was rehabilitated around the time the South Superhighway grade work was completed.

Like roads everywhere in Manila, it seems, rains and what should be normal use caused the rapid deterioration of the intersection, which is at a fairly severe incline. But it appears that the Parañaque government, jeepney and tricycle associations, representatives of the illegal residents who occupy all sides of the West Service Road fork at the intersection with Sucat Road, and traffic police and enforcers have all conspired to create a happy little community — jeepneys and FXs park along both sides to either sleep or eat in the illegal food stalls, and residents hold parties and funerals in the street, and wash both their clothes and their children there — that has made the West Service Road virtually impassable for residents driving south towards Muntinlupa.

Since Muntinlupa appears to be responsible for this sliver of unfortunate geography and a large swatch of its residents use the road at least twice a day to go to and from work, it’s not unreasonable to assume that Mayor Fresnedi would take an interest in making sure it remains in good condition. But that hasn’t been the case, and the scuttlebutt is that the illegal residents along the road — who have built up around a police box situated there all manner of karaoke sing-alongs, eateries, hardware and sari-sari stores, tailor shops, and tire repair "garages" — are registered voters of Parañaque.

You get the picture, I’m sure.

Making matters considerably bleaker, the residents have started a night wet market to further congest the road. Debris and water from the market further contribute to deterioration of the road, which very literally appears to be a well-bombed war zone. Now, in its endless unenlightenment, Parañaque, Skyway authorities, and the police have blocked off the intersection to motorists turning south from Sucat just past the South Superhighway tollway.

This forces residents — along with the 18-wheeler trucks that service the factories also located along the West Service Road which employ residents of both communities — to travel an extra kilometer or so down Sucat Road to a narrow — and naturally poorly maintained — opening in the island that separates its six lanes to make a U-turn. Large trucks and buses have to back up at least once to accomplish this maneuver, backing up traffic another kilometer or so to the West, and thereby inconveniencing even more Parañaque residents.

The presidents of six village associations whose tax-paying residents live along the West Service Road wrote last November 18 to both mayors, Congressmen Roilo Golez representing Parañaque and Ignacio Bunyi representing Muntinlupa, and 2nd Metro Engineering District Engineer Edwin Cruz — whose phone has been disconnected — to implore them to remedy the unspeakable situation at the intersection.
The response: Nothing. Not a word.

So I sent the following list of questions to each of these public servants last Thursday and Friday, after spending all day Thursday trying to get Mayor Marquez on the phone (He was not in the office until the afternoon — not unusual, I understand — and then had a Probe Team interview and then didn’t want to talk to me.). The last I heard from his office Friday, I was supposed to hear back in 10 minutes. It’s been a long 10 minutes.

Anyway, here are the questions:

1.	What government or government agencies are responsible for the maintenance of the intersection in your view?
2.	Illegal residents of the J. Estrada compound have been allowed to use the road as a "promenade yard as extensions of their abodes. In fact, the sidewalks have been converted into commercial stalls, dwelling units, or washing areas," according to the presidents of the associations. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these actions have been taken with the blessings of your administration, although there is some question of jurisdiction between Muntinlupa and Parañaque. Is it true that your administration has encouraged the residents of the J. Estrada compound to encroach on public property, and to use it as they please? Has Parañaque issued business licenses to the vendors who set up stalls on the road every evening? Has it issued business licenses to the karaoke bars, eateries, and other micro businesses situated along the intersection? Have building permits been issued for these structures, including the police box situated there?
3.	Is it true that these illegal residents have registered to vote in Parañaque?
4.	Despite the question of jurisdiction, it is clear that a very significant proportion of your constituency — that reside legally in villages and pay local taxes — are severely inconvenienced by the condition of the intersection. What has your administration done to alleviate this inconvenience?
5.	Why are jeepneys and FXs allowed to use the street as a terminal? Why do the traffic officers and aides allow jeepneys and FXs to use the intersection indiscriminately?
6.	Why do traffic officers and aides allow jeepneys and FXs to make illegal turns at the juncture where traffic off Sucat Road meets traffic entering Sucat Road?
7.	Why was the left turn from Sucat onto the access road blocked off, forcing residents living in villages along the access road to travel down Sucat and to make a dangerous U-turn to get home in yet another poorly maintained intersection?
8.	What do you intend to do about the condition of the intersection in the interests of your constituents?

Since none of these officials have so far been responsive to their concerned constituents or this interviewer, there’s probably little hope that they will respond, or do anything about the huge mess they’ve allowed to be created. But at least the questions are on the record, and the hypothesis underlying my experiment will have been validated: Government — local and national — is a mess, it’s getting worse, and it’ll keep getting worse.

Media Archives