The components of the so-called smart urban mobility program—which I will now abbreviate from hereon as the unflattering SUMP—are yet again moving forward.
There is a disconnect in the pacing that I notice for the various portions of the SUMP, where this intermodal terminal is progressing rapidly but I cannot for the life of me recall how many of the many, many desired (by the government) parking buildings have progressed forward.
Given that the SUMP is a total package rather than an individual, singular project, it leads one to wonder how effective any singular portion will be. These are intended to be synergistic projects, in that corporate-speak synergy way, where each individual component amplifies the other when put together.
It also does raise many questions, some of which have been raised before us by the gentlefolk at the city council. One such question is whether it would be good for the locals to have to spend an extra up to P200 pesos in fare to get to the new terminal for out-of-town travel—the estimated cost of taxi travel from where the buses currently are to where they will be bussin’.
A question I want to ask is whether Victory Liner would be forced to relocate as well or will the company keep its prime real estate where it is; I can’t imagine the conversation telling Victory to leave that fancy, shiny PNR terminal with all of its bells and whistles would be in any way unresisted.
Another question I have is how much traffic this will actually divert from the central business district, as that has been one of the driving factors for all this SUMP. But that will likely be revealed to the public in terms of estimates at some point, and then the actual effects will be some level different to the estimate and there will be some sort of minor public outrage that’ll die out after three months.
But what I want to ask here, really, are questions of speed and velocity. A problem that is very likely to occur on the chance that Magalong does not win reelection is that these ambitious projects he has started—don’t be pedantic and say it’s a purely local government initiative, we all know he was the beginning of these—would lay abandoned in the annals of history.
Would these projects be able to benefit us and outpace this risk if they move faster? Perhaps.
But then, we would lose out on due process if these are fast-tracked without following the proper procedures. And a hasty foundation would be grounds for a future administration to undo any gains that a rushed process would provide.
Remember, as I mentioned, even if we discuss these things as purely government projects, it is impossible to escape the association of these big-ticket ambitious development projects with their biggest proponent; that being Magalong.
This SUMP, the market development, and the ultimately dropped waste-to-energy project—these are Magalong’s Obamacare, and for better or for worse, they are inextricably tied to one another. He needs these to work and to carry his name to reelection and a higher office.
At the same time, these will be matters that his opponents will weaponize against him.
We’ve already seen hints of this as the perennial perpetual of Baguio politic, Domogan, has spent significant media presence hitting Magalong over the market project and touting Baguio’s capacity to redevelop it without the need for private involvement (UniWide notwithstanding).
This is a speed battle, a timing battle, and it will be interesting to see how these parameters of time play out.
