It’s time consuming when you travel from Monumento – Caloocan to Rotonda – Pasay or what we called highway 54 during day time specially rush hours. It will take you 2 hours or more which is supposed to be cars should run 60-100km per hour. Highway 54 or EDSA known as the catch basin of all type vehicles traveling from north to south of Metro Manila and Luzon and even with alternate route C5 is still have heavy traffic.

Imagine without NLEX and traveling using Maharlika and Marcos Highway in the North? How far you can arrive on time?

Mostly, national highways in Philippines are single lanes. Looks like a cemented street inside the subdivision wherein only 1-2 meters allowance from the highway buildings and houses are constructed and the untidy power post and cables. If our highways are constricted such these, then we only use small portion of our budget and we should not seen any rough road in all national highways since every year we increase the budget of DPWH, additional fund from the pork barrel of the representatives and senators and share of local governors and mayors plus donation coming from other countries. Where this money goes?

Hindi naman nanganganak ang kalsada para semintuhin at ang maintenance is not done every year. Kung sa bagay mga basketball court sa Barangay hirap nga din masemento kaya minsan ang kalye ginagawang court.

Last 2005, I travelled Zamboanga City to Pagadian City and I notice the road are 50% cemented. Similar cases in the remote provinces of the country like Kalinga, Ifugao, and some areas in Visayas and Mindanao. How these things are manage?

Let us say, the government has no budget and the willingness to solve the traffic is to invite consortium of private investors to participate developing infrastructure through tollways. What is tollway?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A toll road (or tollway, turnpike, pike, toll highway or an express toll route) is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll (a fee) for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds. The building or facility in which a toll is collected may be called a toll booth, toll plaza, toll station, toll bar or toll gate. This building is usually found on either side of a bridge and at exits.

Toll roads have been criticized as being inefficient in three ways:[9]

  1. They require vehicles to stop or slow down; manual toll collection wastes time and raises vehicle operating costs.
  2. Collection costs can absorb up to one-third of revenues, and revenue theft is considered to be comparatively easy.
  3. Where the tolled roads are less congested than the parallel “free” roads, the traffic diversion resulting from the tolls increases congestion on the road system and reduce its usefulness.

It happens. We can see a lot of tollways operating like NLEx, SLEx, SCTEx, Coastal, Star and the proposed ELEx and extension of NLEx. It was a good idea but too late and too good if it’s free. Aside from that BIR is implementing to include VAT for toll fees. If this is the case, you will notice, the government now a day is studying feasibility studies how people spend their money while government earn from it. Look at this VAT, although it is helpful to the country but a burden to less fortunate. Then, the establishments are not paying VAT honestly, they declare less sales to escape from it and although it was already paid by consumers, the people.

I been working in Middle East for 3 years, this country has no income tax, no VAT, huge free roads, cheaper electricity and water and government gives allowances to their people plus standard salary. Could this be happened to Philippines? I don’t think so.