Gatchalian rejects NLEX appeal for 15 days to fix ‘RFID fiasco’; says the ‘suffering has to stop’


By Joseph Pedrajas, Charissa Luci-Atienza, and Hannah Torregoza

Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian is not satisfied with the response of NLEX Corporation regarding his complaint over the "atrocious traffic situation" on its expressway reportedly caused by the company's "RFID fiasco."

(ADB / MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO)

In a Facebook post late Saturday night, Gatchalian said the response he received from the company "falls short of concrete action plans, solutions and fixes."

"With all due respect, the RFID system in your tolls been there for years, in one form or another... You had years to fix it, but you did not. So by saying that Dec. 1 is the date of reckoning clearly is not factual," he said.

"Matagal na po yan RFID niyo na sira... Pero ngayon na mandatory na sa lahat gamitin, lumalabas ang mga problema, na matagal na dapat nasugpo kung binigyan niyo lang ng sapat na attention (Your RFID system has not been working properly for a long time. But now that it's mandatory, we're seeing the problems, which should have been already addressed if you only gave it attention)," he added.

Gatchalian made the remarks after he received the company's response on his December 3 letter where he threatened to suspend the company's business permit in the city should it fail to comply with his demands.

"You only have 24 hours from the receipt of this letter to file with the city government your action plan to solve your RFID fiasco. Likewise, you have only 72 hours from the receipt of this letter to file your explanation why the city government should not suspend your business permit in view of your miserable failure to comply with your obligations in your business permit to the detriment of the general welfare of the public, including the residents of this city, as well as the chaos, which have caused atrocious traffic situation and disrupted peace and order of this city," the mayor said in his letter addressed to NLEX Corp. chief operating officer Raul Ignacio.

In its reply, NLEX Corp. president J. Luigi Bautista asked the mayor to give the company "a reasonable period of 15 days within which to respond to the concerns raised in letter" as it has "already mobilized the relevant teams to submit their findings and recommendation."

Bautista also asked the mayor to give the company "the opportunity to conduct a structured observation visit" along with the representatives of the Toll Regulatory Board.

"This may provide the venue by which we can collectively look at both the concerns and challenges at this very early stage of RFID contactless and cashless implementation in the entire NLEX/SCTEX network," Bautista said.

But for Gatchalian, the company's response did not provide any action plan or solution that would address the complaint.

"The city hall in our letter asked for concrete action plans and solutions. Clearly, this letter did not do so," he said.

"The suffering  Valenzuelano  public can no longer wait for another 15 days as you requested. The suffering has to stop. It is already taking its toll on the economic, mental, and general well-being of our citizens. Solutions ngayon hindi bukas (Solutions now, not tomorrow)," he said.

Gatchalian, in another Facebook post, even hit the company for not taking responsibility over the heavy traffic situation on the expressway.

"Sa ibang bansa kapag may fiasco na nagawa ang isang private company na vested with public interest (tulad ng grabeng traffic na nagdudulot na ng masamang effects sa hanapbuhay at kalusugan ng mga tao), agad agad ang 1st order of business ng company na 'yun ay tangappin ang pagkakamali publicly, mag sorry and show the public what it intends to do to fix the problem (In other countries, if a private company causes a fiasco that will affect the public interest, like the heavy traffic that has great effect to livelihood and health of the people, it will initially accept its fault, said sorry and show the public what it intends to do to fix the problem)," he said.

Review RFID concession agreement

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called for a review of the concession agreement between the government and toll operators over issues of non-performance and other possible violations committed in the implementation of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) program.

Gatchalian said he will file a resolution calling on the Senate to review these agreements and warned toll road companies that their concessions can be revoked.

At the same time, the senator slammed toll operators anew for their failure to oversee some malfunctioning RFID sensors in toll plazas prior to the implementation of cashless transactions last Dec. 1, which contributed to the heavy traffic on expressways in the past few days.

The senator noted numerous reports regarding defective RFID sensors, particularly experienced by those traversing the interchange in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) leading to Valenzuela City.

Gatchalian also scored the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the agency that regulates the operation and maintenance of toll facilities, for their failure to lift a finger in the wake of numerous complaints from motorists of long queues and traffic congestion.

“Such is an 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,” Gatchalian said.

“It’s all over the news that snags in the installation of RFID stickers prior to and especially on the day of the start of the cashless toll collection resulted in the high volume of cars along the expressways,” he lamented.

Defer cashless toll collection

The House Committee on Transportation has asked the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to “push back” the full implementation of the cashless toll collection scheme up to February 2021.

Samar 1st District Rep. Edgar Sarmiento, chairman of the panel, has written DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, also the chairman of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), to defer the full implementation of its radio-frequency identification (RFID) system, and allow the cash payment until February next year.

“We have to do it right and not at the expense of the commuting public and the public in general. As chair of the entire members of the Committee on Transportation of the House of Representatives, therefore, are appealing that cash payment for certain lanes be allowed again and that a reasonable transition and timeline be adopted, taking into consideration all issues at hand priorate to the full implementation of RFID,” he said in a two-page letter to Tugade dated Dec. 4.

He noted that there are still a lot of vehicles that have to be provided with RFID stickers.

“In fact, the registered vehicles in NCR, Region III, Region IV-B are more than 6.1 million. Based on our calculation, it will take more than two more years for all potential vehicles which will avail of the tollways to be provided with the RFID stickers,” he said.

Based on their recent congressional hearing, he said of the 12.7 million registered vehicles in the country, only three million were given RFID stickers.

The House leader said after receiving complaints from his colleagues in the Lower Chamber, he personally checked the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and saw the need that “there are still a lot of things to be done.”

In the letter, he asked Tugade, through TRB, to instruct the concessionaires to have the necessary information signages located at all ingress and egress points of the tollways clearly showing the lanes for those who already have RFID stickers and those who still need to have RFID stickers installed.

He also underscored the need to put in place additional manpower from the concessionaires "to command the traffic in tollways to provide order and system for the commuting and the riding public not to be inconvenienced."

Sarmiento also asked the TRB, chaired by Tugade to get hold of the compliance report from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DITC), and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as regards their RFID system.

He said the TRB should also ask the concessionaires to “submit a realistic timeline" for the realization of the 100 percent RFID that would not inconvenience the commuting and riding public.

“Mr. Ramon Ang of SMC appealed as well to allow cash payment up to February of 2021, which for me is a reasonable timeline,” he said.

The House leader said the DOTr should ensure that the RFID Reader Equipment Machines of NLEX are upgraded and that an acceptable process of transition period and timeline from partly cash to 100 percent cashless should be agreed upon to include thorough information dissemination for the public.