Just recently, media headlines bled with tragedy as the country’s transport chaos turned fatal—claiming lives from the deadly SCTEX wreck to the NAIA Terminal 1 crash; where concrete and steel failed to protect, but instead wrote obituaries.

Let’s be brutally honest, those headline-grabbing fatalities are just the tip of the wreckage because on Philippine roads, accidents don’t make the news daily, but they sure as hell make the body count.

With that level of dysfunction, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) needs more than an administrative order and prayers, it will need to get its act together because it’s no longer just about apocalyptic traffic that we’re enduring on a daily basis; it’s about a public transport system so fragmented that it’s now collecting lives like spare change.

And let’s call it what it is—no one in DOTr or government history has had the spine so far to tackle the messy traffic situation head-on, leaving us stuck in a national punchline where if there were a global race for worst congestion, the Philippines would take gold even without moving an inch.

Several public transport drivers flat-out admitted that at the LTO, you can still buy your way to a license – that if you fail the exam, you just pay the right fixer and you’re good to go. Efficient driving skills will not be that necessary—never mind if you can’t distinguish the brake from a gas pedal.

Sure, the LTO has that inclination to announce purge on fixers, but on the ground, drivers say the dirty deals never really stopped—these just got quieter, sneakier, and had also gotten more expensive. What will it take then to end that dirty practice for good? A legitimate and tough crackdown from the government because lip service alone won’t fix that damn thing.

After the NAIA crash last week, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon ordered the LTO and LTFRB to ‘coordinate’ on road safety; and while that’s viewed as ‘too little, too late’ action—it’s fair to give the new DOTr secretary a fair shot at proving that the government can finally improve roadworthiness to prevent future death-dealing accidents. He also promised to issue a new department order mandating drug tests for all public vehicle drivers and slashed the maximum driving hours from six to four; and for trips longer than four hours, a replacement driver—not just a conductor—must take over.

Are these actions enough though? Maybe not! The root cause of the mayhem isn’t just drug use or exhaustion of the drivers—it’s also a vicious combo of untrained hands gripping the wheel, and a reckless disregard for discipline, even among so-called ‘licensed’ TNVS drivers. Until we fix the rotten licensing system and the culture of road anarchy, all we’re doing is slapping band-aid measures to impending carnage.

In the deadly NAIA Terminal 1 crash, the so-called ‘protective’ steel bollards (installed in 2019) that were meant to guard pedestrians, crumpled like tin foil under the force of a Ford Everest slamming into them.

At the incident’s aftermath, San Miguel-led New NAIA Infra Corp (NNIC), the new airport operator, vowed to conduct full audit of all bollards at all airport terminals and will also be overhauling the Terminal 1 and 2 drop-off zones to enhance curbside safety.

The company said the audit will pinpoint where the current bollards need heavy duty anchoring—primarily deeper foundations, structural upgrades and tougher barriers; especially in high foot-traffic zones where flimsy protection is a disaster waiting to happen. “Together with the planned bollard reinforcements, this adjustment will provide an added layer of protection for passengers, well-wishers, airport staff and others who regularly access the terminal curbside,” the NNIC noted.

At most major airports worldwide, bollards aren’t just metal posts—these are armored sentries built to take a hit from speeding trucks and SUVs without flinching, and these are designed and installed with reinforced steel and crash-tested at 50 to 60 mph, all as part of hardened security fortress that includes fencing, surveillance and access control to safeguard these critical access points.

The country’s airport terminals are still miles away from the sleek, world-class gateways travelers deserve; there’s still more hassle than experience of genuine convenience. But for now, all eyes are on NNIC to finally raise NAIA’s standards—and to pluck it out of its ‘worst airport shame’ and to prove to the world that an airport coming from rock-bottom can still fly high. Let’s just hope that day comes soon!

Most businesses are located in Metro Manila, hence, it is considered the country’s economic hub. Circling back then to the traffic nightmare in the capital, how much are we really losing economically with these soul-crushing daily commutes to work and meetings?

A 2018 JICA study revealed that Metro Manila bleeds ₱3.5 billion (roughly $70 million) a day to traffic gridlock, and without warranted intervention, this financial hemorrhage is set to explode to ₱5.4 billion per day by 2035. The factors triggering losses include: wasted fuel and time; reduced productivity; delays in goods and services delivery and toxic toll on the environment and public health.

Many expats also joke that their three-year stint in Manila will play out like this: one year living comfortably in their residence either in Makati, BGC or Ortigas; and the other two years, they spend getting stuck on a ‘cesspool of misery’ that is EDSA, the city’s main highway that’s more like a daily endurance test than a road.

With economic losses stacking higher by the day, is there anyone in government with the guts and smarts to finally break the chains of this traffic nightmare that’s been choking us for decades? Or will Secretary Dizon step up and be the one to pull us out of this mess once and for all?