BWorld 177, On MMDA car towing and impounding

* This is my column in BusinessWorld last December 29, 2017.

“Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest bring about by the natural course of things.”

— Adam Smith, lecture in 1755; author of The Wealth of Nations (1776)

This is the continuation of my article, “The MMDA towed my car even with my kids inside” published here on Dec. 21.

Through a mutual friend, I was able to talk to Mr. Mike Salalima, Deputy Chief of Staff of MMDA Chairman Danny Lim, last Dec. 20, a day after my car was towed by MMDA-accredited Fighter Towing Co. (not Tiger as I’ve previously written and for that I apologize.)

Mike said that my case was not a case of an “unattended vehicle” and hence, the penalty should have been a simple violation ticket of anti-illegal parking. Thus, the towing from Makati City to Tumana, Marikina City (which took three hours) and impounding of my car was wrong. So he arranged for the release of my car that day and canceled my towing fee, which I estimated would cost about P6,000 (P1,500 first 4 kilometers for light vehicles plus P200/km thereafter).

Mike asked me if I wanted Fighter Co. to tow my car back to Makati City but I refused since they caused my troubles in the first place and that they might damage my car on the way back.

After the meeting with Mike, I then took a long commute from the MMDA main office in Edsa Guadalupe to Marikina City. I saw the impounding area the day before and when I saw it again that day to get my car, I was aghast at hundreds of impounded vehicles — cars, vans, taxi, jeepneys, delivery trucks, tricycles, motorcycles. Those vehicles should be transporting people and goods, not gathering rust. Private properties, many of which were the result of years of savings and sacrifices such as working abroad for several years, were impounded for months and even years on end, wasting away.

Why would the state through an agency like the MMDA have the power to confiscate private property? And in large numbers at that? Is it not the protection and respect of private property an important function and purpose why governments were created in the first place?

As the quote from Adam Smith suggested, the state can rise from barbarism to opulence and wealth via peace not violence, few taxes, and permits, not more, confiscatory justice administration, however tolerable.

For sure, not all of those hundreds of confiscated vehicles were impounded during the time of Chairman Danny Lim. They have accumulated since many years ago as evidenced by the amount of rust, degree of physical deterioration and height of grasses and vines that have engulfed many vehicles. A number of those vehicles though looked like some of their parts have been removed or stolen.

The purpose of towing and impounding is to help reduce traffic congestion in Metro Manila by removing temporary or permanent obstructions in selected roads. But the act of towing a briefly parked vehicle with the driver just nearby and bring it to a place many kilometers away is already creating traffic in more areas of the metropolis.

I was inside my car while it was being towed and I saw the towing truck made several traffic violations, such as (a) counter-flowing traffic in a section of Makati Avenue towards Buendia and (b) beating the red light from the Green Meadows area turning left towards C5. It was a regular case of government-accredited vehicles to correct traffic violations being traffic violators themselves. Those trucks were rushing to tow and impound as many cars as possible in a day because of the big money involved collecting the towing fee.

Drastic changes need to be instituted by the current MMDA leadership on the system of towing and impounding of vehicles. Two of possible moves would be: (1) Stop the towing and impounding scheme unless vehicles were used in committing crimes like murder and robbery. Violations of anti-illegal parking should be slapped with fines, higher fines if they want, and/or clamping of unattended vehicles. Or (2) allow the process of towing to be subject to challenge by vehicle owners and when the MMDA personnel and private towing companies are found to be wrong in their judgment, they must pay the vehicle owner/s two to three times the estimated towing fee plus any damages to the vehicles.

Governments should go back to their classical raison d’etre or reason for existence — protect the people’s right to life, right to private property, and right to liberty. It is not government function to create many restrictions and prohibitions in society like so many “No Parking” areas, so many requirements and costly permits before people can do business like operating a van to transport people and goods. Having many restrictions and prohibitions means many violations, fines and penalties; many opportunities for harassment and extortion of often helpless and less-informed citizens.

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See also:

BWorld 174, MMDA towed my car even with my kids inside, December 31, 2017 

BWorld 175, Trends in global and Philippine trade, January 05, 2018 

BWorld 176, Road trips and PPP projects, January 06, 2017

MMDA Towing 4

My article on MMDA towing of my car last December 21, 2017 was popular, it was #2 most read article that weekend, then became #1 the next week, Monday to Wednesday. There were many shares and re-shares in fb, other social media.

Many readers were angry at the MMDA but a few directed their ire against me. Like this woman who commented on Mahar Mangahas' wall when Mahar shared my article.

Then on twitter, another low-life mind posted this. I did not reply to it anymore, pointless to do so.

My follow up article in BWorld was questioning the state's "right" to confiscate private property which in this case, is the towing and impounding of private vehicles even for mundane reason/s.
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See also: 
MMDA, LGUs and Towing Racket, November 26, 2012 
Towing 2: Confiscating Motorcycles, September 22, 2013

MMDA Towing 3, November 26, 2013 

BWorld 174, MMDA towed my car even with my kids inside, December 31, 2017 

BWorld 177, On MMDA car towing and impounding, January 07, 2018

BWorld 174, MMDA towed my car even with my kids inside

* This is my article in BusinessWorld last December 21.
And an erratum here. I referred here to Tiger Towing co., it should be Fighter Towing Co. I corrected this in my part 2 column, thank you.

“The animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger for the sweet and gentle creatures which harm no one, which follow you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their service.”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(French philosopher, 1700s)

These are the thoughts that to my mind, describe many government officers, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in particular, on Dec. 19.

That afternoon, I briefly parked my car along J. P. Rizal St. in Makati City to buy pork and rice in a nearby wet market. I turned the hazard lights on, kept the engine running, and left the air-con full blast because my two daughters — 7 and 11 years old — were inside.

When I came back more than five minutes later, MMDA officers and a truck were already in the process of towing my car.

Yes, there was a “No illegal parking” sign where I left my car and yes, I recognized my mistake. This is why I talked to the officers and asked that they issue me a ticket violation instead of towing my car. But they refused.

I appealed again because my girls are already terrified while inside the car but it was futile.

Helpless, I gave in but said I needed to bring my daughters home first to spare them from the stress of being towed to far away place. They agreed but said that a crew member of the Tiger towing company must be at the wheel of the car, not me. Then the towing started, prompting my 11-year-old daughter to cry.

This, to me, felt irregular.

First, a stranger was inside my car, holding the wheel. Second, the noise and the sudden jolt resulting from the car being pulled by the truck scared my two daughters further.

When we reached an intersection, I explained to the MMDA officer who escorted us on a motorcycle that my daughters were already terrified. Again, I asked him to issue me a ticket and just like the others, he refused.

His uniform showed the name “Dayaon LD.”

We arrived at their impounding area in Tumana, Marikina City around 5:30 p.m. Then the tow truck quickly left, perhaps to prowl for more potential victims. The area is secluded, far from the Tumana proper, muddy, and isn’t easily accessible to public transportation, not even tricycles. I saw hundreds of cars and vans and realized that I have come upon the mess the government has caused its citizens.

With this in mind, I have decided to raise several questions after having experienced the cavalier attitude of the MMDA.

1. Why did the MMDA officers insist on towing my car when I already showed up, admitted my mistake, and agreed to get a ticket for the violation? After all, my car was not “unattended vehicle” because the engine was running, the air-con and that hazard lights were on with two young girls inside?

2. Why did the MMDA officers allow or instruct Tiger Towing Co.’s crew to board and drive my car with me and my two girls inside? I stayed in the car after my girls went home, took a photo while the car was being towed with Tiger’s crew member behind the wheel.

3. Why did they bring the car to Marikina City when another MMDA impounding area is located in Ortigas, which is closer to Makati City?

4. Will the MMDA and/or its accredited towing company accept responsibility for damages to the car during towing?

5. Why is the information on the impounding notice for my vehicle incomplete? The notice should indicate the name, signature, and designated ID number of the officer who issued the impounding notice.

But it only indicated the name of the team leader — a certain Gonzales — while the names of the driver and the two crew members were not identifiable. Only a signature was on the notice, without any names nor ID numbers. The MMDA escort should have a printed name as well but there was nothing.

After reading the Impounding Notice and MMDA’s FAQs, I learned that:

An illegal parking violation penalty is only P500; towing is P1,500 for the first four kilometers while it is P200 for every succeeding kilometer. Makati City to Tumana in Marikina City is quite a distance, allowing the towing company to earn thousands of pesos per vehicle.

MMDA’s FAQs on towing also says:

“11. Are the towing crew allowed to board an attended vehicle?

This is NOT allowed. If this happens when the driver is present, this must be taken note of and reported as a violation to the MMDA (136).” (http://www.mmda.gov.ph/20-faq/2085-towing-and-impounding-faq)

“13. Who will be responsible for any damage/s obtained by the vehicle during the towing?

Take note that before the actual towing, the tow truck crew shall issue a Technical Inspection Report indicating the name of the owner, vehicle’s plate number, type and color, including the accessories thereof, and a description of the vehicle’s condition. The towing company/agency shall be held responsible for losses/damages incurred while towing the vehicle.”

Neither Tiger’s crew nor MMDA officers did this. They only gave me a one-page “Impounding Notice” with vehicle type and plate number and they did not even ask for my name.

The MMDA is a big bureaucracy in the metropolis.

The money they get from us via annual appropriation keeps on increasing: P1.726 billion in 2016, P2.180 billion in 2017, and P3.558 billion in 2018, according to the Budget department’s Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing 2018.

The MMDA also earns more from so many penalties for mundane violations like dirty plates, using slippers and/or sleeveless shirts while driving. I saw its list of “Traffic violations and penalties” and it was four and a half pages long, describing 300 different prohibitions and hence, potential sources of fines, penalties and harassment.

The MMDA towed my car at 2:39 p.m. and arrived Tumana about 5:30 p.m. I got home in Makati City around 8 p.m., wasting about six hours. Now, I have to go to the MMDA office in Pasig to settle the fees, then back to Tumana, then drive back home to Makati City, which will take many hours again.

(Later on, I was able to meet some MMDA personnel who helped correct the behavior of their errant staff. I was able to meet Mr. Mike Salalima, Deputy Chief of Staff of MMDA chairman Danny Lim. He said that what happened was wrong. I should have just been issued with a ticket violation, instead of towing my vehicle. He will call Tiger Towing Company and I will be there to listen in. And I will be spared of possibly P6,000+ towing fee because of the long distance from Makati City to Tumana.)

We private citizens and taxpayers already pay lots of taxes and fees partly to pay the salaries and bonuses, travels and vehicles, perks and pensions of government people. Next year we will pay even higher taxes with the TRAIN law. Why add more fines and fees in thousands of pesos, why harass us with many unproductive hours, as if we committed a huge, horrible crime?

If some traffic violations are made, the driver should be penalized, not the car. The process should also be shortened, not lengthened.

Government should be more sensitive to taxpayers and not punish them with harassment. Are these too much to ask?

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See also:

BWorld 171, Global vs national tax reforms, December 29, 2017 

BWorld 172, Mining and natural disasters, December 30, 2017 

BWorld 173, Energy favoritism under TRAIN, December 30, 2017

Confiscation of Driver's License by Pasay Traffic Enforcers

After my wallet was stolen by bus thieves 2 Wednesdays ago along with my driver's licence  (DL) there, I got a new DL last Friday. By Saturday morning, May 23, while driving at Roxas Blvd and turning right towards SM MOA, that  new DL was confiscated by a Pasay traffic enforcer for a heinous crime of .... not wearing my seatbelt.

Below left, the OVR he issued. Notice that he even signed the space for the motorist, he was probably rushing  to get a "quota" of apprehensions for the day. The receipt for P250 when  I got back  my DL yesterday.

 I tweeted MMDA and Pasay Public Information Office (PIO) that day, and the two agencies did not reply quick, my friend Albert Lim commented, below.

The traffic officer's family name is Remoros .  He looked and sounded unfriendly and arrogant, the usual faces and attitudes of many government personnel in frontline operations. So that if  the  public should plead with them, "pakiusap", they are hard to be approached and their extortion charge, if the public will persist with a pakiusap, their price is high.

In my case that instance, I tried to plead with him as it's a minor case, he wouldn't listen. So I took his photo, he was aware of it. And his photo indeed showed the face of unfriendly and arrogant officer.

Thanks Albert. Meanwhile, Pasay PIO never bothered to reply. Maybe they are not interested in answering public concerns and questions, they are only interested  in getting more money from the public. MMDA I remember last year or two years ago, went around in media explaining that confiscation of DL is no longer allowed. Apprehended motorists can just pay the fine/s in a bank. Now MMDA says some LGUs can confiscate DLs.

In many cases, pabigat talaga gobyerno. We pay many taxes and fees already to sustain their huge and bloated bureaucracies, and we have to pay fines to them for minor issues, like forgetting to  wear a seatbelt. 

Below is the matrix of fines  at the Pasay traffic redemption office. I took this photo while waiting for my name to be called.

On another  side is a huge tarp banner showing  Pasay City's revenues and expenses for the month  of April 2015. Here's the list of revenues. Notice substantial collections from fines and penalties.

Hayyy, daming bayaran sa gobyerno. And they are not  even  the  national government, local government units (LGUs).

One more reason why governments -- local, national  and multilateral/international -- should shrink significantly.
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See also:

LTO Bureaucracy 6: On the No Plate No Travel Prohibition, April 09, 2015 

LTO Bureaucracy 7: Cost of Annual Car Registration, April 16, 2015

LTO Bureaucracy 8, No Driver's License Available, May 24, 2015

Flooding, Garbage and MMDA

Another horrible street flooding after heavy rains last Wednesday afternoon, October 1. Photo from interaksyon.com.

A good friend, Bruce Hall, asked these questions last week in his fb wall,

Does garbage cause flooding? Has there been a study done proving that? By who? I constantly hear politicians blame flooding not on them or the government but upon garbage. I have never seen a single reference to any proof of that. It’s been asserted and repeated. Has it been proven?

Good questions by Bruce. And I think what causes or contributes to frequent street flooding is not so much the floating and new garbage but the decayed and old garbage that have settled in sewerage bed. Thus, for a 3-feet diameter drainage, if half of it is already occupied by soil, mud, stones and various solid waste, the water-holding capacity of drainage is cut by half. The excess water goes to the streets, and we have frequent street floods. The same problem applies to creeks and rivers, especially in central Luzon rivers as many of them were heavily silted by Pinatubo's lahar.

So the single most important solution to frequent street flooding is large-scale and sustained dredging of those drainage, creeks, esteros and rivers.

Bruce added, “The real problem of course is that Manila is built on what is in essence a wet land, a flood plain. It is built between Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay, with rivers and creeks crisscrossing all through what is now Metro Manila. If you build on a swamp, you shouldn't be surprised when it acts like a swamp.”

That is another rational explanation. Yesterday morning when I got off from a bus at Crossing-Edsa, front of Shangrila Mall, I saw about 6-7 young men and women in yellow MMDA shirts, each carrying a bundle of violation tickets. Their job? penalizing and mulcting on clueless people who throw even small pieces of garbage, say a candy wrapper. I don't know how much the penalty is, maybe P200 or more. I asked one lady why they are doing that, she quickly replied "bumabaha na po kasi palagi" (it's flooding too often).

Ok, many Filipinos indeed need to be reminded and disciplined about the ugliness of littering so it may be a good move. But if they really wish to control or stop the arbitrary throwing of solid waste that block the drainage, MMDA should have people in boats watching those who live near the creeks, esteros and  rivers as many or majority of these people throw not just candy wrappers or cigarette butts, but all sorts of kitchen and household wastes, and give violation tickets.

Can MMDA do that? I doubt it. Why? These poor folks have no money to pay the penalty. Whereas those who cross Edsa generally have work and have money to pay the fine, instantly perhaps. And thus, instant money for the MMDA.

This is similar to those anti-smoke belching units (ASBUs) of MMDA and other city governments of Metro Manila. They harass and penalize private motorists who drive diesel vehicles (passing rate here is generally zero, all vehicles flunk their smoke test) even if these vehicles are clearly non-smoke belchers, but tolerate obviously belching jeeps and buses.

In short, those “environmental police” or anti-littering campaigns are mainly money-making projects (extortion with receipt?) by LGUs incl MMDA, and not so much to control street flooding.

Per sq.m of land in the whole country or even in Metro Manila, Edsa crossing front of Shangrila mall is generally clean. Yet there were 6-7 "environmental police" standing there to enforce cleanliness, with fines and penalties to violators.

When I passed by the same place around 2:30pm yesterday (the conference that I attended was at Edsa Shangrila Hotel), the guys were no longer there. I assume they already met their quota of fines for the day. I also assume that perhaps they are ashamed of their work, penalizing people for minor littering while the medium- and big time garbage dumpers are not penalized. Hence, the need to leave their posts quick whenever possible.

When government bureaucracies keep expanding, their people's rationality and sense of fairness decline; these are replaced by irrationality and the politics of envy.

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Global Warming Hits the Philippines, Part 3, January 26, 2014 
Manila Flooding Torture, June 26, 2014
Dirty Creeks 3: Divisoria, Paco, August 09, 2012

Transport Econ 13: On Prohibiting S. Luzon Provincial Buses to Enter M.Manila

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will soon prohibit buses from southern provinces to enter Metro Manila. Their analysis says that these provincial buses contribute significantly to Metro Manila traffic; thus, the solution is to ban and prohibit them from entering the metropolis. Is this a good analysis?

In July 2013, MMDA proposed a two days a week cars-not-allowed in M.Manila, from the current one day a week. Public adverse reaction was high and MMDA was forced to abandon it.

Then in August 2013, MMDA prohibited provincial buses from Cavite and western Batangas to enter M.Manila and forced them to stop at Uniwide coastal mall, supposedly to reduce traffic in MM. I and other observers suggested that it will only worsen traffic. Many of those bus-riding probinsyanos ("promdis") are car owners, so they will be forced to bring their cars from Cavite because it is now a hassle to take multiple rides. And MM traffic has worsened. See Fat-Free Econ 45: Newton's Laws of Motion and Traffic Congestion, August 11, 2013.

Now MMDA and other government bureaucracies will prohibit buses from S. Luzon to enter MM. Expect more cars from those provinces to enter MM and traffic will worsen. The law of unintended consequences will haunt those bureaucrats, and the rest of us. And I think MMDA will revive again the previous proposal of two days a week private cars prohibited in Metro Manila from 7am to 7pm.

The MMDA, some local government units (LGUs) and Land Transport Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) bureaucrats always put the blame on others, never on themselves and their policies. Many of those current bus riders from Batangas and Laguna are car owners, but they opted not to bring their cars because it is more convenient by air-con bus to go to Makati, Ortigas or Quezon City. Especially if they are carrying a luggage, or a laptop and other important materials. It is convenient to get off at Cubao then take a taxi to final destination. Now people will take provincial bus + Manila bus + taxi or jeep, then repeat the process going back home. The inconvenience of multiple transfers.

Plus many Metro buses are generally less comfortable compared to provincial buses; they also travel slower as they make many stops. And Metro bus hold-ups are a continuing scourge that the government cannot solve until now. So expect some if not many of these promdis to bring their cars to MM and traffic will become even worse.

Bureaucracies always have knee jerk reactions to problems that very often, they themselves created. Their previous regulations and prohibitions are not working, they attracted the law of unintended consequences, so they create new prohibitions. The minds of central planners. Centrally plan things; since things don't work with old plans, make new plans, new prohibitions.

Another problem, LTFRB gives franchise to bus units to ply a particular route for about five years I think. Say it gave a franchise in 2013 for buses to travel until Cubao, to last until 2018. Then this year, 2014,  LTFRB dishonors the permit it gave by supporting MMDA prohibitions. Government makes rules then change these in the middle. Officials who have little or zero experience running a public transportation yet regulating and prohibiting public transpo.

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See also:
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013
Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013 
Transport Econ 11: On Fare-Contracting Taxi Drivers, December 13, 2013
Transport Econ 12: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Tricycles, April 21, 2014

Big Infrastructure Projects, Metro Manila, 2014-2016

Some big infrastructure projects in Metro Manila will start tomorrow, especially the extension of the skyway  that will connect the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). Our house is not far from this project, so somehow we will be affected by the heavy traffic, but am not complaining.

That map is from http://www.mymanila.net/. Copied from MMDA I think. Here are the details of those projects. I re-arranged the list starting with Makati, where I live :-)

Project	Impacted Cities	Impacted Streets
Buendia Underpass	Makati City	Buendia, Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas
Magallanes Flyover Repair	Makati City	SLEX, EDSA, Pasong Tamo Ext.
Lawton - Sta. Monica Bridge
	Makati City	Lawton, Kalayaan, JP Rizal
	Pasig City	Sta. Monica
	Taguig City	8th Ave.
NLEX - SLEX Skyway
	Quezon City	NLEX, Balintawak, EDSA, A. Bonifacio, Sgt. Rivera, G. Araneta, Del Monte Ave, Quezon Ave, E. Rodriguez Sr., Aurora Blvd.
	Manila City	Paco de. Sta. Mesa, Quirino Ave., Pedro Gil
	Makati City	San Andres, Ocampo, Buendia, Pasay Road, Skyway, SLEX
C5 McKinley On-ramp	Taguig City	C5 Northbound through Upper McKinley Road
NAIA Skyway	Pasay City	NAIA Road, Roxas Blvd., Old Domestic Road, Andrews Ave., Aurora Blvd., Sales, SLEX
EDSA - TAFT Flyover	Pasay City	FB Harrison, Roxas Blvd., Taft Ave., EDSA
LRT/MRT Common Station	Quezon City	EDSA, North Ave., West Ave., Mindanao Ave.
EDSA / North Ave. / Mindanao Ave. / West Ave. Interchange	Quezon City	EDSA, North Ave., West Ave., Mindanao Ave.
ITS North Terminal (TriNoMa)	Quezon City	EDSA, North Ave., Mindanao Ave.
ITS South Terminal (FTI)	Taguig City	East Service Road, FTI Area
LRT East Extension	Marikina City	Marcos Highway, Imelda Ave., Sumulong Highway

These infra projects are important. They should have been started yesterday, not today. The traffic congestion will worsen. I remember when the Ortigas interchange was being constructed, about two  decades ago. Lots of whining, complaints from the public, some even suggested not to pursue it because of the heavy traffic that was created, up to 4 or 6 lanes were affected. We have benefited, greatly, from that infra since then. The huge infra projects starting tomorrow will definitely reduce our productivity somehow, with more time spent on the road than in the offices or factories or schools, but the increase in productivity by 2016 or 2017, when they are done, will be tremendous. Tiis lang tayo sa ngayon.

I also support the plan to collapse school sked to only four days a week, at least in Metro Manila. With a resident population of about 12 million, becomes 13-14 million on weekdays as some people who live in nearby provinces (Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite) would troop to the metropolis to work or study or for entertainment, there is no other sustainable choice for public infra but go vertical: more skyways, more tunnels, more interchange, more elevated U-turns. Traffic is an engineering problem with engineering solutions.

One implication here is that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) should shrink their manpower, or at least stop further hiring. Any rise in their budget should be used only for actual infra projects, things which do not need 13th month pay, sick leave and vacation leave with pay, holiday leaves, even threat of labor strikes, to continue functioning.

What about the people currently working in those government agencies, or other people aspiring to work with them? Faster mobility of people and goods would mean more business activities, more job creation and expansion in many private enterprises.

Good thing about the skyway is that it is privately-funded and hence, will not require more tax money to be constructed. When the project is done, maintenance will also not come from taxes but from tollway revenues. Government can actually shrink in certain infra projects. Government will refocus its resources, to protect contracts between and among people and enterprises, enforce the rule of law. 

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See also:

Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013 

Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013 

Fat-Free Econ 45: Newton's Laws of Motion and Traffic Congestion, August 11, 2013

Fat-Free Econ 45: Newton's Laws of Motion and Traffic Congestion

* This is my article yesterday in interaksyon.com.
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British physicist and mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was known for his contributions to classical mechanics and physics. His famous theory, which I remember from high school, is the so-called “Newton’s Laws of Motion.”

Having done research on various social and economic issues for many years, it dawned upon me that Newton’s three laws can be applied to society as well, especially on how the government attempts to solve the daily traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other big cities in the country.

Below are Newton's Laws of Motion and my re-interpretation when they are applied to Philippine society.

The first law -- A body at rest (or in motion) will remain at rest (or in motion) unless an external force is applied on it -- as applied to society: Bureaucracy in command-and-control will remain in that state unless the distortion they created is applied on them. 

A new government policy banning provincial buses from entering Manila and Makati is a clear example that the bureaucracy is terribly detached from the needs of many provincial passengers. The government simply left tens of thousands of bus passengers stranded along Roxas and Macapagal boulevards with no alternative to get to their destination quicker. For those able to catch in-city public utility vehicles (PUVs) had to spend extra, making public transport costlier, more time consuming and more inconvenient. This was despite government efforts to leave their cars and take public transportation so traffic and air pollution are reduced.

Many government officials live in Metro Manila, not in the provinces. For those who live outside, even if they take the bus, there are red plate cars waiting for them at the bus stations. The bureaucracy is holed up in command-and-control thinking because they have exempted themselves from the distortions and inconvenience of the policy they imposed on the rest of society.

The second law -- The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to and in the same direction as the force acted on it, and inversely proportional to its mass -- as applied to society: The acceleration of bureaucratic policy is directly proportional to the central planning philosophy applied on it and inversely proportional to its intellectual mass. 

The government tendency to blame private players car owners, bus and van operators and drivers, and even passengers, thus policies restrict them. Note here the recent proposal to expand the car use prohibition (a.k.a, number coding) from one day a week to two days. The command-and-control philosophy gives them the illusion of being right despite the paucity of rational and scientific studies to support whatever new restrictions they wish to implement. Government agencies do not see themselves and their policies among the major causes of traffic congestion.

The third law -- For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction -- as applied to society: For every government intervention, there is an equal and opposite distortion.

When government prohibits provincial buses to enter key areas in Metro Manila to "reduce traffic,, passengers are first inconvenienced, as shown by the long lines of inconvenienced passengers from Cavite and Batangas on the first day of the ban. But soon, many of these passengers will buy second-hand cars or new motorcycles and drive to Metro Manila, and this will worsen traffic congestion. 

Newton also developed another theory, the "Law of Universal Gravitation," which states thus: Every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. 

Applied to society: Every untested idea in government attracts another lousy proposal with a force directly proportional to the product of their bureaucratic sizes, and inversely proportional to the square of any rationality remaining in them.

This bureaucratic gravitational force is huge because the numerator is big while the denominator is small. As government makes commuting more time consuming, costlier and more inconvenient (the 2-3 rides become 3-4), more people will either cramp in Metro Manila or buy more cars or motorcycles to get to their destination quicker, or slower (due to more traffic) but more conveniently and safer.

An alternative the government should consider is that instead of segregating between Metro Manila and provincial buses, bus companies should be allowed to choose their routes; for example, from Cavite to Fairview or Monumento to Bulacan or C5 to Pasig-Marikina.

These buses can pick up and unload passengers along Edsa or C5. Make the bus-train commute more convenient and cost-effective, and many people will leave their cars at home.

In addition, many jeepneys and tricycles will die a natural death, without creating a new law, administrative order or local ordinance. And we shall have less traffic.

Let us encourage less, not more, government restrictions and prohibitions. Government should focus on going after the real criminals, like bus hold uppers, terrorist bombers, murderers and kidnappers, rapists and molesters. Transporting provincial passengers to their offices or schools in Metro Manila is not a crime.

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See also:

Fat-Free Econ 41: Cut Income Taxes, April 08, 2013 

Fat Free Econ 42: NSCB vs SWS Data on Poverty, April 30, 2013 

Fat Free Econ 43: On the Philippines' Fast Economic Growth, June 04, 2013 

Fat Free Econ 44: Deregulate Weather Forecasting, July 10, 2013

Transport Econ 8: Removing MRT and LRT Fare Subsidy, March 08, 2013 
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013 

Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban, July 18, 2013

Transport Econ 10: MMDA and Car Ban

* This is my article today in thelobbyist.biz
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Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino has proposed to raise the prohibition in the use of private vehicles in Metro Manila’s streets from one to two days a week. The goal is to reduce traffic in the national capital region.

Public outcry and disapproval, especially among car owners, and more particularly from those who have only one car, was high. The message is simple: Prohibiting people from using their own car/s two days a week is wrong. Especially if such car is used for business or to transport kids to school.

The  MMDA and many local government units (LGUs) in the country tend to specialize on having more  prohibitions in society: Driving your own car is not allowed on this day and hours, prohibited to drive on yellow lane, prohibited to make a left turn or U turn on certain streets, prohibited to drive your diesel engine car or van unless you pass their arbitrary smoke emission test.

The twice-a-week-car-ban proposal will actually result in more traffic congestion because (a) the rich will simply buy additional cars to go around the coding, and (b) there will be a new problem of lack of parking for many houses and streets.

A proposal like this by the MMDA Chairman is anti-liberal and anti-freedom. He is pulling the liberal PNoy government towards more statism, more prohibitionism and hence, more stupidity. Mr. Tolentino should remember that he is working under a liberal government, not a socialist or fascist government.

In a free society, everything is allowed, except for a few prohibited act -- like murder, stealing, abduction, rape, extortion, arson and carnapping. In an unfree society like a socialist or fascist government, everything is NOT allowed, except those with government permits. We are far from that highly unfree society, but more prohibitions, more regulations and more restrictions thinking by certain government officials can slowly pull the country towards such unfree society. And we pay more taxes and fees to pay for the salaries and perks of people with dictatorial and prohibitionist thinking in  government.

The usual proposal coming from various sectors  is to (a) encourage people to take the bus, jeepney and train more often. Raise the MRT/LRT fare prices and buy more trains. Other proposals include (b) building more covered walkways, (c) suspending the approval of new bus franchises or retiring old public vehicles, and (d) requiring provincial bus lines to stop, load and unload passengers only in areas near the North and South Expressways and prevent them from using Edsa.

One problem of expecting people to leave their cars at home and use the bus/jeepney/train  is that many people live in villages and residential areas far from the bus/train route. So from their houses, they take (1) tricycle, then (2) jeep or bus, then/or (3) MRT/LRT, then (4) jeep again or walk long to destination, especially in major commercial business districts (CBDs). The inconvenient multi-ride system, especially if one is regularly carrying a laptop or important documents or big cash, or in decent corporate attire, is forcing some people to drive their cars, even if they have to endure heavy traffic and difficulty in finding safe parking, or expensive parking fees.

A friend suggested that imposing frequent car bans is attacking the traffic problem on the demand side, when what are lacking are solutions on the supply side. One such solution is to construct more bridges over or across the Pasig River, to provide alternative routes to existing roads and bridges across the river.

I  support this proposal. There are currently about six or seven bridges across Pasig River. If there will be twice that number, then the traffic pressure in existing bridges like those in Pasig, C5, Edsa, Rockwell, Makati Avenue, etc. will be drastically reduced and vehicles will be more dispersed.

Multiple transport transfer is cool if we are talking of bus-MRT-bus transfers. But if we are talking of tricycle-jeepney-bus/MRT-jeep again, the combined fare may be equivalent to the fuel use of a car, not to mention the inconvenience of such multiple transfers.

There is an existing alternative now, the air-con vans. They ferry passengers from residential areas to different destinations, particularly Makati, Manila, Ortigas, Eastwood, Fort Bonifacio and other major CBDs. Just one-ride instead of three or four.

One problem here is that getting a franchise is very bureaucratic and costly, hence the presence of so many unregistered vans or "colorum". These are subject to frequent flag down and extortion by some corrupt elements of the police, MMDA and the Land Transportation Office (LTO). These costs -- high franchise fees for registered and high extortion for unregistered -- make the fare rather high, but still cheaper compared to driving one’s car.

On expanding the coverage and capacity of MRT and LRT in Metro Manila, Peter Wallace once said that the Avenida/Quiapo to Fairview MRT has been submitted to the government at build-operate-transfer (BOT) or related schemes as far as 20 years ago or longer. But the NEDA Board and the Investment Coordinating Council (ICC) bureaucracy, plus changes in administration, have conspired so that such unsolicited proposal from the private sector at little or no initial cost to taxpayers would remain as plain  dreams and never implemented. It is a disease of central planning at the ICC level.

The tricycles are given monopoly routes by the LGUs. Jeepneys and air-con vans  are not allowed to pick up passengers in routes that were assigned  by the LGUs as "exclusively for tricycles." So people who live in these routes have only three options: drive their car, get a taxi, or take the tricycle. The first two are costly.

If such tricycle route monopoly is absent, meaning passengers have a choice  to take jeepneys/vans or tricycles, most likely they will take the former and tricycles will die a natural death, even without national or local legislation. But the LGUs are protecting the tricycle monopoly system as they get lots of votes from tricycle drivers and operators, and these people pay annual registration fee or franchise fee to city/municipal halls.

A complicating situation is that some debt-pusher institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) contribute to such traffic congestion by pushing some lousy programs, like the $300 million e-tricycle loan. Even a small country like Singapore with just 5+ million people has no tricycle, the more that a country with nearly 100 million people should have no tricycles and have more buses and trains instead.  

To recap, this paper is suggesting alternative measures other than the current and expanded car bans:

1.       LGUs should consider removing the monopoly route system for tricycles, allow jeepneys and air-con vans to serve these routes as well.

2.       Build more bridges across Pasig River.

3.       Simplify and reduce the cost of registering air-con vans, encourage corporate branding and competition among them.

4.       Simplify the approval of new or expanded MRT/LRT lines.

There are many other proposals from many sectors. So long as they do not advocate more restrictions, more prohibitions by governments on people to use their own cars, such proposals can be worth supporting.

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See also:
Fat-Free Econ 14: Traffic, Car-pooling and LTFRB, June 21, 2012
Transport Econ 7: Encourage Branding, Deregulate Fares of Taxi, January 02, 2013  
Transport Econ 8: Removing MRT and LRT Fare Subsidy, March 08, 2013 
Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism, May 27, 2013

Transport Econ 9: MMDA Bureaucratism

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is among the huge bureaucracies in the country. It is supposed to solve problems related to heavy traffic congestion, street flooding, dirty streets, undisciplined motorists, and other functions to develop Metro Manila and its component cities and municipalities.

Today, a friend, JB Baylon, posted in his facebook wall about the MMDA. He wrote,

The MMDA has, over the years, tried so many schemes to bring sanity to our traffic: bus lanes, color coding, motorsiklo lanes, yellow lanes and yellow boxes, designated bus stops, even timers at bus stops (!!!) etc. But the MMDA has never been consistent and persistent in implementing these schemes, so, except for the color coding, everything else eventually is forgotten/fails. Not the Gates of Hell, perhaps, but definitely a metropolis of indiscipline, of "regulations-as-recommendations", of anything goes! Traffic - it's more fun in Metro Manila, the Philippines!

I replied that MMDA and many LGUs specialize on so many prohibitions. Driving your own car is not allowed on this day and hours, prohibited to drive on yellow lane, prohibited to make a left turn or U turn there, prohibited to drive your diesel engine car or van unless you pass their smoke test. More prohibitions, more regulations, more penalties, they make lots of money from those plenty of prohibitions.

Another friend, Stephen Cutler, replied,

I suggest, Nonoy, its because they don't have the right goals in mind: 1) traffic safety 2) traffic ease. Most of these guys don't drive, so they don't have to feel the pain of drivers. Most policy makers have drivers who take the strain, and the enforcers use public transportation. Neither are behind the steering wheel. Poor quality and non-standard signage is one example of this fact. The US, Australia, Europe and other nations have adopted a Uniform Signage code so that signs are at a uniform style/type, height, location and so on. Privately owned roads, such as the majority of the roads in Makati, but which are open to the public must conform.

I told Steve that these guys have clear and explicit goals in mind -- they are the central planners who will influence everyone else's behavior as motorists or commuters. More prohibition means (a) more revenues for MMDA and LGUs due to lots of acts that are prohibited, and/or (b) more extortion as many innocent motorists who are less informed of certain traffic rules will be forced to negotiate with them to spare further hassle and trouble.

Traffic congestion is very often an engineering problem with engineering solutions. If bureaucratic solutions are adopted, more problems are created than solved.

Someone suggested that “laws that make traffic violations be made a criminal offense, and said laws enforced, make the driver spend 30 days in jail when he makes an illegal U-turn, or 45 days when he fails to stop at a red light. Hopefully spending time in jail would make drivers think twice about breaking traffic rules. And don't improve the conditions of the penitentiaries. Let the driver suffer.”

Most likely this person does not drive here in Metro Manila, or does not drive often. In this country, all  traffic prohibitions apply only to ordinary motorists. Red plate vehicles, police vehicles, low-numbered plates (6, 7,... 16 or 4 - 5 digits, etc.), armored vans, or ordinary civilan cars but with political VIPs inside, are all exempted from those prohibitions. The government is the worst violator of the rule of law, and it  wants to impose more prohibitions, more restrictions.

Another suggested that MMDA should be abolished. I support his proposal but one problem there is that once a bureaucracy is abolished or shrunk, LGUs themselves will put up a new inter-LGUs body with a bureaucracy similar to MMDA. So one bad reality we have to live with is that bureaucracies just sprout like amoeba, they are everywhere, expanding or perpetuating themselves. The least we can expect from them is to limit their powers to create and expand the list of prohibited acts as if we ordinary motorists and commuters are their slaves.

More observations and ranting.

1. MMDA and LGUs want people to take public transpo, to car pool and reduce traffic in MM. Fine. But they make commuting hard and very inconvenient. For instance, you ride a bus from Ayala or Edsa, going to LRT taft to go to Monumento or nearby. MMDA forces commuters to get off about 300 meters away from the LRT station, they have to walk under the sun, or under the rain and flood, or avoid possible pick pockets along that distance. Fine if one is not carrying anything heavy or feeling well. But if one is sick, or carrying heavy things, such a huge discomfort to commute.

2. In Buendia, Makati city govt created a long line of "No jaywalking" along the island, sometimes as far as 200 meters. So to go to the other side, one walks 200 meters east or west, cross the street, then walk another 200 meters to one's destination. Again, if one is carrying heavy things, or valuables, or not feeling well, the discomfort of commuting -- and govt says people should commute more and not drive their cars.

MMDA, LGUs and Towing Racket

A friend, professor at De La Salle University (DLSU) Political Science Department, Prof. Eric Vincent Batalla, posted in his facebook wall last Friday this story: He gave me permission to blog his story, thanks Eric.

Early Christmas Bonus to the Metro Manila Development Authority towing services. Yesterday morning, my son and I brought some stuff at the condo on Taft Avenue. In order not to obstruct traffic, I parked in front of 7-Eleven behind those parking obstruction poles attached to concrete slabs on the road. These are usually used by buildings so no one could park in front. Well, the car was towed five minutes after it was parked and while I was inside the building. So, fine. It was illegal parking after all this time and I was guilty (but the claim of obstruction? that was funny). The car was brought to the MMDA Ultra-1 Compound in Ortigas, which registered a trip of 17 kilometers for the towing company.

He then added these details in the comments section:

The new MMDA regulation signed by Chairman Francis Tolentino says you pay towing services of P1,500 for the first four kilometers and P200 for each succeeding kilometer. So I paid P4k to the towing company plus P500 to the MMDA for the violation. So I paid and went home yesterday feeling unlucky hahaha. But there are at least a couple of questions that are hard to answer. First, why was the car which was parked in Manila brought to a distant impounding center (and not in Manila where the offense was committed)? Second, why does the MMDA, which is supposed to coordinate with Metro LGUs, permit a private towing company to tow and make money out of distance charges by bringing the car to the Ultra-1 impounding Center and not to Manila's impounding center? It is truly the season of giving gifts.

Don't get me wrong. I admire the new MMDA chair. However, does this suggest a loophole?

I'll raise this issue to the MMDA. If this administration wants to govern well, it should pay attention to the everyday injustices. I did mind paying a fortune but it was a helpless situation. In the Philippines, the culture of impunity is strong. Ordinary people learn how to be helpless in the face of daily abuse. And they say it's more fun in the Philippines. They've got to put their act together hahaha.

I really think that the car should have been impounded in the city of Manila, not in Ortigas where I had to pay more. One can easily speculate on the commissions to bureaucrats.
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I also commented in his wall, I said that he has another first-hand experience of the rule of men, not rule of law. And since they towed his car without a driver inside, the hand brake was not released and the car put in neutral gear, then that means brake pad or lining is already damaged, he will have to spend several thousand pesos more to replace it plus labor. And the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will not admit accountability for that additional damage and costs.

If one will move around, one can easily spot cars that are illegally parked, mostly jeepneys,  tricycles, police and government cars (red plate), and armored vans. These vehicles are not towed, nor their drivers are penalized. 

If not the MMDA, other local government units (LGUs) like the respective city governments, have their own towing operations, aside from other regulations like the anti-smoke belching units (ASBUs) and their various racket.

Here are photos of towed cars in Makati alone. 

Notice the car below, two towing vehicles carried it. 

We citizens pay various taxes for the salaries and perks of government personnel, then we pay more to them as they tow our cars even for flimsy reasons, as ASBUs apprehend diesel powered vehicles even if these are not smoke belchers, other ither forms of harassment and prohibitions. 

BIG government is all about parasitism, both national and local governments.
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See also
Anti-smoke belching Racket, January 17, 2011
Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 2, September 15, 2011
Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 3, November 25, 2011
Anti-Smoke Belching Racket, Part 4, September 25, 2012