05/05/2025
Coalition of Filipino Commuters
Statement on the series of road mishaps
The Coalition of Filipino Commuters call on the government to truly and seriously pay attention to the situation of our roads, drivers, and motor vehicles and not just pay lip service to the tragedies that have recently befell our citizens, especially hapless commuters.
The SLEX tragedy that killed 12 persons, the NAIA crash that killed 2, the motorcycle lady flaunting her ignorance of traffic rules and the many other incidents where lives were lost because our processes for driving and maintaining motor vehicles are flawed cannot continue.
We, as commuters are the most vulnerable to all these illogical incidents. We do not have any defense against a ton of pure steel barrelling in our direction at break neck speed.
We cannot keep blaming the malfunctioning motor vehicle or the ignorant drivers as the culprits behind each and every road tragedy.
Our regulating agency deserves as much, if not more, blame assigned to them because they allowed these unworthy vehicles and drivers to ply our roads.
It is not a secret that getting a drivers license is as easy as drinking a glass of water and acquiring a certificate of roadworthiness for a motor vehicle is like buying s**a at the corner sari-sari store.
And when transport officials with enough political will try to correct these inefficiencies, the first cry will be from populist lawmakers and public figures crying anti-poor.
Preventing road crashes through discipline and correct systems are not anti-poor, they are anti-death, anti-tragedies.
Paying and getting a drivers license must be a hard earned process in order for it to be treasured by every commuter.
Acquiring roadworthy certificates for motor vehicles, public or private, must pass through a veritable eye of the needle to ensure the commutes and pedestrians safety.
Road crashes are recorded as one of the biggest killers in the world next only to cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure.
In the Philippines, it has been recorded as the fifth biggest cause of death of our youth.
And yet LTO is still involved in the infighting of who will manage their digital system and the LTFRB continue to ignore the worn out and dilapidated buses and jeepneys that ply our roads.
It is time to level up our system of approving drivers licenses and awarding vehicle roadworthy certificates.
Many of the people behind the CFC have expressed willingness to have their drivers licenses revoked to retake a new and better, comprehensive system of getting one again, if only to ensure that all motorists know what they are doing, and what they are NOT supposed to be doing, on the road.
One death because of road management incompetency is one death too many.
