Insane

Traffic in Metro Manila has become so bad that because of it, the Philippines has been immortalized in television shows, novels and, early this year, in a song by the British rock band Coldplay.

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, in his book Inferno for instance, portrayed Manila as the gates of hell, notably because of the traffic jam, pollution, massive poverty and so much more.

In January, during their concert at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin penned a song about insane traffic jams in Metro Manila.

And just when we think we’ve seen the worst of it, the situation has descended into further chaos over the past weeks and there’s really no telling if and when things will get better.

June 10 in Quezon City for instance, was a night to remember because there was paralyzing traffic brought about by the rally of drivers and operators of public utility vehicles.

Quezon Avenue all the way to Commonwealth was one giant parking lot for hours. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough advisories from authorities to avoid the area at the said time and there were also no suggestions for alternative routes.

I was one of the motorists stuck for three hours in that traumatizing traffic situation.

The nights that followed were no better and every route to Quezon City from the southern part of the metropolis was a sight of madness – a sea of red lights as vehicles spent perhaps more than five minutes to move by just a kilometer.

It really is a state of calamity, as the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) transportation and infrastructure committee led by Eduardo Yap pointed out months ago.

“This traffic congestion in Metro Manila has been so severe that an estimated P3.5-billion daily economic loss is being incurred continuously, and therefore more than merits a declaration of a state of calamity by the President who may avail of emergency powers to provide relief measures,” Yap said.

The MAP earlier presented to lawmakers a plan to solve the crisis.

The plan called for a “traffic crisis declaration and a new management task force headed by a traffic czar to undertake a comprehensive program consisting of short, medium and long-term