It's NOT Fun Commuting in the Philippines

On the 11th of October 2019, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo took the commute challenge as a dare of the masses. Panelo stated that he began his commute from Makati City and ended his destination at the Malacanang Palace. Moreover, the presidential spokesperson left his home at 5:15 am then arrived at his workplace at 8:46 am. His transportation consisted of four rides on a jeepney and a free motorcycle ride; the supposed to be 40 minutes to 1.5 hours one-way trip took 3.5 hours in total.

image by Michael Varcas via The STAR

After traveling for almost 4 hours just to reach Malacanang via four (4) jeepneys and one (1) motorcycle ride, he still has proclaimed that there is no mass transport crisis in Metro Manila. He also stated that the only crisis we have here in Metro Manila is not a mass transportation crisis, but a traffic crisis. His route for this commute challenge started from New Manila in Quezon City to Cubao, then taking another jeep back to Manila.

After Panelo’s experience, he left a remark that really enraged the Filipinos. In an interview with Radio Station DZBB, Panelo mentioned there that people should be creative when commuting by means of leaving early to arrive at their work on time. This statement provoked the Filipinos, especially the workers who are stuck in hour-long traffic. In addition, netizens expressed their disagreement with Panelo’s comment that Filipino workers who resided in the province should start their day at 4AM for an 8AM office hour. According to the Social Weather stations survey, 72% of Filipino employees have difficulty in commuting due to limited public transportation. On the other hand, the spokesman claimed that there is no transport crisis as commuters can still get rides. This met with a lot of criticism by the public due to it being “insensitive.”

. . .72% of Filipino employees have difficulty in commuting due to limited public transportation.

Now in the time of pandemic, people have been forced to commute in order to arrive at their workplace, and a big majority of Filipinos said that commuting to their workplace has become harder compared to pre-pandemic times. Which could affect the productivity of the citizens that either get work late since they become off-schedule. With that being said, whether it be the pre-pandemic period or the present, there has always been a traffic crisis not just in Metro Manila, but all around the country. And for the citizens that commute in order to go to work or school, this needs to be improved — because the general public are suffering from these conditions whether it be traffic congestion going to and from work, to the lack of sufficient public transportation to cater all the commuting citizens.

As a student and a citizen, it is in fact that commuting in Metro Manila is never easy. The hours spent in a vehicle stopped in traffic will make you wonder if this is what it really is like waiting for death — death of the time spent for nothing. The traffic and struggle in commuting in Metro Manila is indeed a killer.