Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte reiterated that Congress did not allocate a budget for the High Priority Bus System (HPBS) of Davao City.
The HPBS project is projected to address the traffic problems in the city, specially during peak hours.
“Ang HPBS wala na na gi-budgetan sa Congress. Wala na gi-budgetan ni (Martin) Romualdez. Ang solusyon (traffic) naa na, ang pag roll out na lang ang ginahulat. Pareha aning bus system. Naistorya naman nato ang Asian Development Bank, nakapag loan nata. Miabot na si Bongbong Marcos, mipirma nila ug kontrata unya karon ginapugngan nila. Pasagdi lang mi diri kami nga mga taga Davao. Nganong paantuson pa man mi ninyo? Unsa may sala namo sa inyuha? Hutda na ninyo ang kuwarta dinha, unya ihatag lang pud kung unsa ang among kinahanglan diri,” the mayor said.
The mayor issued this statement amid claims of the critics that the Dutertes are not able to address the traffic woes of Davao City.
The HPBS project includes the development of public transport terminals, depots, and a driving school as key supporting facilities of the modern service; 1,119 bus stops; and more than 1,000 new bus.
“Muingon sila wala nasulbad ang traffic light. Dili na puwede kay naa ta’y bus system, pag naog sa bus system kinahanglan calibrated na ang traffic lights sa bus system and it’s not that simple,” the mayor explained.
The mayor said there are many approaches to address the traffic problem.
“Dili na siya ingon na trapik kay trapik lang tungod kay walay CTTMO. Dili na ingon ana. Daghan ug solusyon nga dungan nimo nga ipanaog, mga polisiya ug balaod ug inprastraktura. Dili na kausa nga ingon na ugma sulbad na dili na ingon ana,” Duterte added.
Recently, Davao City was ranked No. 8 as the most congested city in the world out of 500 cities and was named most congested city in the Philippines, based on the latest edition of the TomTom Traffic Index.
According to Tom Tom, the index assesses cities and metropolitan areas across 62 countries by their congestion and travel times, and how many hours commuters have lost stuck in traffic. It said that commuters in Davao City take nearly 33 minutes to travel 10 kilometers, on average.
The survey irked some Dabawenyos claiming that it was politically driven as it’s both baseless and inaccurate.
Some netizens even expressed disappointment to the survey result.
Facebook user Ivan James reacted to the post of a broadsheet that the study should consider that Davao City is strictly implementing a speed limit. He also commented that the survey may be taken during the holidays.
Joel Peeters commented that one has to consider that Davao City, as a growing city, is building new roads all over the place, and widening the existing ones, plus new extensive bypasses and bridges.
“All of this is at the source of the current traffic congestion in the city. Bit by bit the traffic should ease up once each of those extensive projects is finished. The Ma-a overpass, for instance, will ease the traffic on the Diversion Road, but in the meantime, the roadwork is creating constant congestion. A massive bypass is currently in progress in Malagamot, another in Mandug with the tunnels, etc, etc,” he said.
Some Dabawenyos also criticized a national newspaper for using a photo of heavy traffic congestion that was not taken in Davao City but in Edsa Guadalupe.
The mayor said the Marcos administration did not pour the budget for projects like HPBS to taint the image of Davao City.
“Para lain tan-awon, ang Davao dili nila naugan ug kuwarta para aning mga butanga,” he said.
The mayor also cited that this is the unitary system of government of the Philippines, which according to him, whoever is close to the President will be in favor.
“Unya mubalik ko sa system of government. Kaning unitary system of government, maglisod gyud ta kay pabor pabor man gyud na dinha sa taas. Karon nangontra man sa ato ang administrasyon karon, namotbot man sila, nagtuo man ta nga amigo nato sila, dili man diay,” he said.
