MMDA traffic czar Edison ‘Bong’ Nebrija took to social media to answer false assumptions regarding the EDSA Busway project.
Nebrija on Tuesday responded to a Facebook post from a page called Luxury Cars Manila, which said that: “A wise man said, sacrifice the few for the good of many. Pinoy style is sacrifice the many for the good of the few. The few who made a lot of money by making this happen.”
The post, which triggered a strong reaction from the MMDA official, used an Expectation/Reality meme of heavy buildup on EDSA alongside a seemingly empty EDSA busway to imply the ‘failure’ of the system in addressing Metro traffic.
“I do not know where these rich kids get their statistics from but almost 50% households in the Philippines do not own cars, PH ranks the lowest in Southeast Asia in car ownership and we only have 38 per capita car ownership per 1,000 people. And you know what is alarming which I think the author of that post belongs to, 16 percent households have more than one car,” Nebrija states.
Nebrija was referring to a World Bank report where the Philippines ranked 133rd globally in terms of car ownership, with 38 cars per 1,000 people. Meanwhile, a 2013 study conducted by Nielsen Global Survey of Automotive Demand found out that nearly half of all Filipino households, or 47 percent, are carless. The study also indicated that the ratio of car ownership in the Philippines is fifth-lowest in the world. While it pointed out that 38 percent of Filipino households have one car, some 16 percent have more than one car.
Ultimately, the MMDA official underscored the importance of having an efficient mode of public transportation, one that can efficiently transport a greater number of people so that there would be less cars on the road.
“The concept of moving people and not cars. With the same number of people transported cars occupy more space than a PUB,” Nebrija explains when comparing the greater number of people able to occupy a smaller space when using public transportation, as compared to when each is aboard his own car.
“The luxury car owner’s reality I guess is far off from the reality of an ordinary Filipino. That’s what happens when a fool writes about what a wise man said,” Nebrija ended.