Even Archbishop Tagle offering solutions to Metro traffic hell

Short of comparing the problem to a cross that must be borne every day, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Wednesday urged the government to address the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila through proper urban planning and vehicle regulation.

The prelate also offered another solution: Make sure that public transportation is running efficiently.

“I hope that you make urban planning and putting order in the streets a priority so that people can be relieved of the everyday stress brought by being stuck in traffic,” Tagle said in an interview over Radyo Veritas.

According to him, it would also be good if authorities could come up with new ways to regulate the number of vehicles in the streets.

“Be realistic. I hope we implement a system of monitoring the number of vehicles plying a particular area. If a street can accommodate [only] 5,000 vehicles but there are 50,000 cars trying to force their way into the same area, how can the traffic flow?” Tagle asked.

He added that he hoped the government would also immediately fix the public transport system which was more convenient for many Filipinos.

“If our public transport system, the LRT (Light Rail Transit), MRT (Metro Rail Transit) [and] buses are functioning properly, maybe even those who have their own vehicles will be encouraged to use these facilities knowing that our public transportation is efficient,” said the cardinal who also got caught in the traffic caused by the Edsa People Power anniversary festivities in February. He was about 10 minutes late for the Mass in which he was the celebrant.

At the same time, Tagle observed that the traffic problem reflected Filipinos’ attitude out in the streets.

“Do we give way to others? Do we easily get angry? Do we try to get ahead of other drivers? Or do we have the capacity to give way to others?” he said.

Tagle is not the only high-ranking church official who has weighed in on the worsening traffic problem. On Saturday, his predecessor, retired Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, took a more active role when he helped untangle a traffic gridlock in Batangas province.

The 83-year-old prelate had just celebrated Mass in Sto. Tomas town and was on his way back to St. Joseph Seniorate, a retirement home for priests in Lipa City, when he found himself stuck for nearly 40 minutes in the middle of a major traffic jam.

Amid the rain, Rosales put on a hooded jacket, zipped it all the way up to conceal his pectoral cross, got out of his car and walked to the front of the long line of cars.

There, he found five vehicles clogging the intersection, causing a traffic buildup involving around 200 other vehicles.

Rosales said he approached the driver of one of the five vehicles and told him of the situation.

The prelate managed to make the five vehicles give way, opening up the intersection to let traffic flow. Tina G. Santos/Philippine Daily Inquirer