RFID mess: Toll board warned of budget veto. Inquirer Newsletter. December 10, 2020

No images? Click here   NO YOU DON’T   New police recruits practice fighting with rattan sticks at the National Capital Region Police Office training center in Taguig City on Wednesday. Police plan to use the sticks in enforcing social distancing in the metropolis, but Malacañang disapproves of the idea. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has said the sticks should be used instead for checking the contents of bags to ensure public safety. —RICHARD A. REYES     News Curbs on nurses’ deployment lifted The government has lifted the ban on the deployment of nurses, nursing aides and nursing assistants abroad.  They are still subject to the travel restrictions of the host country and must declare that they are aware of the health risks, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III says the ban on the deployment of other health workers stays. —STORY BY DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   News Manila, San Juan bare vaccine plans​ Manila and San Juan City will raise P1 billion and P50 million, respectively, to buy vaccines against the new coronavirus disease for their residents. Speaking at the INQlusive webinar series on Wednesday, Mayors Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and Francis Zamora declared their financial readiness to help their constituents survive the pandemic. —STORY BY JODEE A. AGONCILLO AND MEG ADONIS Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Regions Cebu resort probed for ‘discrimination’ The Department of Tourism is investigating a luxury resort in Cebu over its “poor handling” of a complaint from a guest whose child has autism. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat is coordinating with the Department of Justice on the proper action to take regarding the complaint posted on social media. The resort management has apologized. —STORY BY MARICAR CINCO, ADOR VINCENT MAYOL AND TINA G. SANTOS Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/regions   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletter and get your latest news and important updates on COVID-19 and the enhanced community quarantine. Subscribe   Subscribe     Banner story RFID mess: Toll board warned of budget veto By Nestor Corrales and Mariejo S. Ramos The head of the House of Representatives committee on transportation warned the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) on Wednesday that he would ask President Duterte to veto the agency’s 2021 budget if it would not fix the problems with the implementation of electronic toll collection that had been causing monstrous vehicular congestion on the expressways. “We can still do something about the budget of [the] DOTr (Department of Transportation). That is the last call,” Samar Rep. Edgar Sarmiento told reporters. The TRB, which regulates toll road operation, is an agency overseen by the DOTr. “That is our last card,” Sarmiento said, threatening to defund the TRB, which has been accused of neglect that had led to daily tie-ups on the toll roads following the Dec. 1 shift to electronic toll collection. “I will do that if needed. I will appeal,” Sarmiento said. He reiterated his call for the shift to be pushed back to next year. “Push it back because the people will suffer. The system is not ready. Let us not insist on it,” he said. Sarmiento said that of the 6.1 million motor vehicles in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon, only 3 million had been fitted with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags needed for electronic toll collection. He said his committee had never failed to remind the TRB to fix the problems related to the shift before implementation, but the board did not listen. The TRB, he said, “can always revoke” the concession agreements with the tollway operators if they could not serve the public well. “It is in the concession agreement, the government can take over,” he said. On Monday, the local government of Valenzuela City suspended the business permit of NLEx Corp., the toll operator for the Northern Luzon Expressway, after the company failed to clear the tollway of kilometerslong tailbacks caused by malfunctioning sensors. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate economic affairs committee, is seeking a review of the TRB’s powers and functions and of the contracts of the tollway operators. He has also demanded the resignation of TRB Executive Director Abraham Sales. TRB spokesperson Julius Corpuz on Monday said the board was dealing with the problems caused by the modernization of toll collection, but this was unknown to the lawmakers. On Tuesday, the board ordered the tollway operators to take measures to prevent congestion on the expressways. In a statement, it said it would penalize the operators or suspend their authority to collect if they continued to violate the implementation rules of electronic toll collection. The TRB also said it had ordered the tollway operators to replace worn-out and defective sensors, RFID tags and equipment, and relocate RFID installation and reloading lanes to prevent congestion on the turnpikes. It said it also required them to upgrade their systems software and improve customer service assistance and traffic management. The TRB, however, did not set a deadline for operator compliance. But Corpuz said the tollway operators were told to solve the problems “immediately.” Potential legal brawl “We have to [consider that] one deadline [could not be set] for all the requirements. We would have to look into it, with the concessionaires and toll operators, an opportunity to explain themselves. But ... what we require is to arrive at applicable and practicable solutions to these issues,” Corpuz said. He also said the TRB would attend the hearing the Senate would call and that Senator Gatchalian could “expect our full cooperation.” But the TRB distanced itself from a potential legal brawl between NLEx Corp. and the Valenzuela city government. “[T]his is a matter between the City of Valenzuela and the NLEx operator. We have been assured that this is being given the appropriate attention and hoped to be resolved very soon,” the board said in its statement. After the local government suspended the business permit of NLEx Corp. on Monday, it declared a “toll holiday” for motorists passing through the toll plazas in the city, enabling vehicles to breeze through the toll booths and clearing the turnpike of congestion. Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian, a brother of Senator Gatchalian, was supposed to meet with officials of Metro Pacific Tollways, parent company of NLEx Corp., on Wednesday, but he postponed the meeting. “We will welcome them filing a case in court. We know we stand on strong legal ground so we are ready to defend our actions,” Gatchalian said in a post on Twitter, responding to Metro Pacific Tollways senior vice president Romulo Quimbo’s statement in a radio interview that the company did not want the controversy to reach the courts. Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   Editorial Yet another mess So bad has the situation become at the North Luzon Expressway that last Monday, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian personally served the notice of suspension of business permit on NLEx Corp., thus prohibiting the builder-concessionaire and operator of the expressway from collecting fees at the toll plazas within the city. Gatchalian was driven to take the drastic measure by what he called the operator’s "miserable failure" to meet the city’s ultimatum to address long-standing issues hounding its "abysmal" RFID (radio frequency identification) cashless toll collection system, which has worsened the already dreadful traffic around the toll gates, exacting a heavy toll on people’s time, health and money. For Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chair of the Senate economic affairs committee, says also to blame is the Toll Regulatory Board, for "failing to lift a finger" in the wake of numerous complaints about the anarchy caused by the shift to the cashless system at the expressways. Gatchalian called for the resignations of the top officials of the TRB for their "utter display of callousness to the plight of the motorists who, because of technical glitches and apparent inaction of concerned authorities, get stuck in traffic for hours." However the mess may be resolved, the logjam of vehicles at the toll booths is yet another glaring instance of mediocre governance—the latest infuriating demonstration of, as Inquirer columnist Randy David described it, "a pervasive culture of thoughtless disregard for the welfare of ordinary citizens." Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net       Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe