No school, less traffic

Every year, motorists and commuters alike welcome the end of the school year when schools are closed and there are no or less students on the road.

 

This is particularly true among the residents of the 117.3-hectare Ayala Alabang Village (AAV), which hosts four schools: De La Salle Zobel (DLSZ), the destination of 1,200 to 1,500 motor vehicles Monday to Friday, 10 months a year from June to March; Woodrose, 700 to 750 vehicles; Montessori, 100 to 120 vehicles; and Learning Child School (number of vehicles used not published.)

 

The problem is that, of the 4,188 students enrolled in the elementary and high school of DLSZ, 78 percent are nonresidents. The number of cars entering AAV daily to ferry these nonresident students to and from DLSZ fluctuates between 1,200 to 1,500, and in December 2014 reached 1,787—causing toxic air pollution, traffic congestion, noise, roadway wear and tear, nuisance and the risk to life and limb of residents, especially since some nonresident drivers blatantly disregard AAVA speed limits and park illegally.

 

ROOT CAUSE. Ayala Alabang Village Association (AAVA) president Epifanio S. Joaquin, writing in the March 14-19, 2015 issue of AAVA News, says that as early as 10 years ago, the boards of DLSZ and AAVA were meeting to address the root cause of the extreme traffic situation in AAVA created by nonresident DLSZ students.

 

From August 2003 to May 2014, various new traffic schemes were jointly implemented by AAVA, Barangay Ayala Alabang (BAA), and DLSZ but residents living near the school still suffered from the heavy traffic, pollution and noise brought by the great volume of nonresident vehicles.

 

In November 2005, DLSZ executive vice president Ronald D. Holmes made a commitment in writing to cap DLSZ’s enrollment to 3,800 students. But that commitment was apparently forgotten since the student population this March rose to 4,188, or about 10 percent over the original cap.

 

Despite the efforts of DLSZ to provide more school buses and encourage carpooling among the students to reduce the number of nonresident vehicles to 800 by the end of November 2014, the number actually increased to 1,787 in December 2014.

 

Only a few nonresident high school students availed of the shuttle service from Alabang Town Center (ATC) to DLSZ, so the shuttle service lasted only 10 days.

 

COLOR-CODING. Finally, at a meeting on May 29, 2014, Joaquin informed Brother Oca, his staff and parents’ association representatives that by the start of classes in June 2014, the color-coding scheme combined with carpooling, shuttle service and busing of students from ATC to DLSZ and back would be implemented.

 

The color-coding scheme specifies that only vehicles with white school stickers can enter the village on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while on Tuesdays and Thursdays, only nonresident cars with green stickers can enter AAV.

 

All school buses and DLSZ service vehicles are exempted, while children who stay in school after class hours for extra-curricular activities may be picked up after 6 p.m. regardless of the color of their sticker.

 

Brother Oca asked for a postponement while DLSZ tried other measures and prepared the nonresident students and their parents.

 

After a brief drop in the number of nonresident cars in August, it went up again in October, so on Dec. 2, 2014, Joaquin went to Brother Oca’s office and told him that the color-coding scheme would definitely start on Feb. 2, 2015.

 

THE TRO. After the AAVA board denied Brother Oca’s request for another postponement, a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) dated Jan. 27, 2015, and signed by Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Judge Philip Aguinaldo arrived, ordering them not to implement the color-coding scheme.

 

REROUTING. But all is not lost. Traffic congestion has been significantly reduced by rerouting schoolbound traffic on Madrigal, University and Acacia Avenues, closing off secondary streets, and requiring those exiting DLSZ on University to turn right on Acacia from where they can proceed to exit the village through the Acacia Gate.

 

In the afternoon, DLSZ-bound vehicles are barred from entering the village earlier than 2:30 p.m., while parking along University Avenue is not allowed prior to DLSZ’s daily dismissal.

 

Last March 7, DLSZ sent their Traffic Management and Community Relations Plan to the AAVA board wherein they said they are now “amenable” to “decrease” their student population to 3,978 by academic year 2020-2021, or a mere 5 percent of the current population.

 

“After having breached the commitment by 10 percent and enjoyed the corresponding revenue increases brought about by the said breach, they want to take population reduction at a relaxed pace,” Joaquin noted.

 

He also observed that the DLSZ plan has no deadline or timeline for full implementation, no concrete commitments to enforce carpooling, establish a carpooling and busing standard, no strategy, no programs to support the strategy, no accountable persons, parties, departments. “In the end, a significant portion is wishful thinking.”

 

CAPPING. Meanwhile, at a town hall meeting, BAA chair Ruben P. Baes announced that his council had passed a barangay ordinance capping the student population of all schools in AAV equivalent to that of the 2014-2015 school year, never to increase.

 

Joaquin points out that when the Zobels donated over 60,000 square meters of land inside AAV to DLSZ in 1978, the deed of donation bound the school to erect buildings of no more than three floors, allot 40 percent of the land to gardens, athletic fields and/or parking spaces and comply with AAVA’s rules and regulations.

 

He adds that it is logical to assume that when the Zobel de Ayala family donated the original property for La Salle to build their campus, it was to benefit first and foremost the residents who took a chance and decided to make their homes in a fledgling subdivision called Ayala Alabang.

 

PLANNED. “With over 60,000 square meters, DLSZ should have planned the use of its land wisely and responsibly by allotting enough space for required infrastructure to build classrooms, house administration, provide sporting activities, playground, parking for faculty and employees as well as enough open space to serve both the students and the surrounding community as buffering easements.

 

“Prudence would have dictated that it never should have taken in students more than what the space available to it can accommodate,” Joaquin wrote in The President’s Corner (AAVA News, March 21-27, 2015.)

 

“… The prevailing student population ratio of 20/80 in favor of nonresidents has become too lopsided for our community to ignore. With only 20 percent of DLSZ’s total population coming from AAV, I believe DLSZ has already lost its relevance to the Village, all the more reason that the plight of the residents should be given paramount concern.

 

“Some suggestions like moving out or at least transferring a portion of DLSZ operations (some residents alluded to moving the whole high school department out of AAV) to some other place deserve, at the very least, DLSZ’s serious consideration.”

 

By the way, the Ayala Group has learned its lesson. When a new residential community, like in West Grove, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is developed, the schools are located outside.