Transportation in the Philippine

The Philippines transport system relies on its roadways, inter-island shipping, known as “ro-ro’s” (roll-on roll-off) transport, and aviation. Despite its archipelagic nature, road transport dominates other forms of transport. In 2006, its roads served approximately 1.71 billion passengers and 25.9 billion tons of freight. The Philippines has an extensive network of paved national roads, municipal roads, and secondary roads especially in the urban areas. Due to maintenance and rehabilitation costs and other competing priorities of the government, the Main Line North (266km) and Main Line South (479km) has had a difficult time and eventually became underutilized and under-maintained. This is also why most of the freight in the Philippines is transported by road on trucks and using the “ro-ro” transport to connect to various islands. Integration of the urban transport system is one of key challenges in the Philippines, especially considering the existing para-transit modes such as jeepneys and tricycles in urban areas. Most government effort in the past has been put on road development and not on providing a more holistic transport system that includes other motorized modes but as well walking and cycling.

Owing to the threat of air pollution, climate change, and fuel security, the President of the Philippines issued an Administrative Order instructing the Department of Transportation and Communications to develop a national Environmentally Sustainable Transportation (EST) strategy for the Philippines in 30 January 2009. This has resulted to an action plan proposed by government to establish targets and indicators for elements under the EST framework as developed under the Aichi Statement of the UNCRD. The government has allocated funds coming from the Special Vehicle Pollution Control Fund of the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge in funding activities related to this. In addition, the government has proposed under the Clean Technology Fund the inclusion of projects on developing a BRT system for Metro Manila and Cebu as one of its projects. Most of the current efforts and plans of the government are geared towards improving passenger transport as compared to freight transport.

In the past, we faced a lot of difficulties in terms of dealing in turbulent times when machines are of low standard and apparatus techniques are poor. As a matter of fact, there were times when foreigners called the Philippines as an “under shadow” country, in the way of trading goods, technological developments and with our economic crisis. Now, a lot more changes are expected, especially that there are global warming threats which arise to greater responsibilities of mankind despite technological advancements. Some local government units in our country have tried to respond to this concern; great innovations are conceptualized and have come into reality, just like the solution to large carbon emissions brought by the transportation industry in the Philippines. Precisely, the commuters contribute a certain portion to the causes of global warming, by just the mere fact of commuting through PUVs. And in support of pursuing a greener future, the government recently provided to the city government of Mandaluyong, 20 e-trikes (electric-powered tricycles). In addition to increasing number of e-jeepneys being used by growing cities and localities, these e-trikes are energy efficient and could therefore help minimize carbon emissions that add up to the heat climate we experience. These e-trikes use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, the same batteries that are used in

cellphones and laptops. These electric tricycles are produced through less number of parts for them to run, thus maintenance costs are cheaper. Just like any other electric-powered vehicles, this invention will help eliminate the detrimental effects of air and noise pollution which are both significant contributors to global warming. Based on study, the Philippine government would be able to save 100,000 liters of fuel imports from the use of 20,000 e-trikes. Another advantage is that it would protect the country from the increasing, yet uncontrollable, prices of petroleum products. This latest alternative to public transport will help alleviate high unemployment rates in the country since if these e-trikes would be largely manufactured, jobless Filipinos will be given work opportunities. Though this e-vehicle may have difficulties as to speed, ability to climb steep slopes, and charging time, improvements could still lead to these e-trikes as viable alternatives for commuting. As a nation being affected by the world crisis and global warming, it could be a win-win situation for the Philippines to invest a good expenditure in manufacturing and using electric-powered vehicles. It would greatly benefit most of the Filipinos, especially those who are very much affected by the damaging effects of economic crisis and climate change.

Philippines-Transportation In 1988 there were 157,000 kilometers of roads, 26,000 of which were designated national (arterial) roads. Somewhat less than 50 percent of national roads were all-weather. The PanPhilippine Highway, also called the Maharlika Highway, running from Laoag City in Ilocos Norte to Zamboanga City at the southwest tip of Mindanao, was the country's main trunk road (see fig. 7). The highway passed through twenty-one provinces. In the 1980s, the national road system increased by 10 percent, and the portion that was surfaced with asphalt or concrete increased by 20 percent. The planning target for 1992 called for 100 percent of arterial roads to be all-weather, and 95 percent to be paved. Local roads, however, were allowed to deteriorate. The condition of many roads was poor because of low design standards, substandard construction, inadequate maintenance, and damage from over-loaded vehicles. A program of rehabilitation and improvement of the local road system was part of the plan objectives. In 1988, 1.3 million motor vehicles were registered with the Bureau of Land Transportation. About 22 percent were motorcycles; 30 percent were private automobiles, and 38 percent were utility vehicles. A large number of the utility vehicles were jeepneys, jeeps converted for hire to carry passengers. In the late 1980s, Metro Manila experienced a combination of heavy traffic congestion and a shortage of transportation, reflecting an increasing number of private automobiles and an insufficient number of public conveyance vehicles. A 1989 estimate indicated a shortage of 3,200 buses and 21,700 jeepneys in the Manila area, and many of the taxis and buses in Metro Manila were very old. In 1991 there were two international airports: Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan International Airport near Cebu City. Slightly over 1 million visitors arrived in the Philippines by air in 1988. About half of the national airports were served by the main domestic and international carrier, Philippine Air Lines. No additional airport construction was anticipated in the Medium-Term Development Plan, 1987-92. Thereafter, Manila's international airport, which is too small to handle expected increases in air traffic, would need to be relocated. During the talks between the United States and the Philippines in 1990, concerning the future of the two major United States military facilities in the Philippines, there was public discussion of relocating the international airport to the United States facility, Clark Air Base and making Ninoy Aquino a domestic airport. There was a network of 622 public and 314 private seaports in the Philippine archipelago in the late 1980s. Six ports--Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, and Davao handled approximately 80 percent of public port traffic. In 1988 a major construction project was underway at the Manila

International Container Terminal. There was an ongoing series of port improvement projects, and plans for a fishing port program and a program to develop roll-on-roll-off capacity in order to link sea and road transportation systems. In 1987 there were more than 3,000 passenger and cargo ships in the interisland shipping industry, with a total registered cargo tonnage of 417,500 tons. The ships accounted for about 85 percent of interisland cargo movements and nearly 10 percent of passenger-kilometers traveled nationwide. Somewhat less than one-third of the ships were liner vessels; the remainder were tramp ships. Liner ships were generally imported secondhand from Japan and in 1987 had an average age of about nineteen years. Although the industry was highly regulated, it was criticized for moving goods slowly and inefficiently and for safety violations, particularly overloading passengers during peak periods of travel. The Philippines in 1990 had one main railroad line running north out of Manila 266 kilometers to San Fernando City in La Union Province and 474 kilometers south to Legaspi City in Albay Province. The system had deteriorated over the years, with utilization declining continuously to a tenth of the passenger traffic and a twentieth of the freight carried in 1960. In the first 10 months of 1990, the railroad carried 30,000 tons of freight, down from 48,000 in 1989. During the same period, passenger service turned around, however, climbing from 210 million passenger-kilometers in 1989 to 226 million in 1990. The Philippine National Railroad began a project in 1990-91 to upgrade its southern track system, utilizing a P1.2 billion loan from Japan. When completed in 1993, travel time from Manila to Bicol would be cut substantially. In 1984 a Light Rail Transit system began operation in Metro Manila running from Baclaran in the south to Monumento in the North. The fifteen-kilometer system provided some relief from Metro Manila's highly congested traffic network.

Eminent domain is "the power of the nation or a sovereign state to take, or to authorize the taking of, private property for a public use without the owner’s consent, conditioned upon payment of just compensation."[1] It is used interchangeably with "expropriation."[2] It is acknowledged as an inherent political right, founded on a common necessity and interest of appropriating the property of individual members of the community to the great necessities of the whole community. The exercise of the power of eminent domain is constrained by two constitutional provisions: (1) that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation under Article III (Bill of Rights), Section 9 and (2) that no person shall be deprived of his/her life, liberty, or property without due process of law under Art. III, Sec. 1.[3] Public use can be identified with public purpose, public interest and public convenience.[4] However, there is no precise meaning of public use. Generally accepted meaning Public advantage, convenience, or benefit, and that anything which tends to enlarge the resources, increase the industrial energies, and promote the productive power of any considerable number of the inhabitants of a section of the state, or which leads to the growth of towns and the creation of new resources for the employment of capital and labor, which contributes to the general welfare and the prosperity of the whole community.[5]

Limited meaning Use by the public or public employment, that a duty must devolve on the person or corporation holding property appropriated by right of eminent domain to furnish the public with the use intended, and that there must be a right on the part of the public, or some portion of it, or some public or quasi-public agency on behalf of the public, to use the property after it is condemned. [edit] Just compensation Just compensation is the full and fair equivalent of the property taken from its owner by the expropriator, and the gauge for computation is not the taker's gain but the owner's loss. In order for the payment to be "just," it must be real, substantial, full, and ample; made within a reasonable time from the taking of the property. [6] The full and fair equivalent of the property taken from its owner by the expropriator. The measure is not the taker's gain but the owner's loss. The word "just" is used to intensify the meaning of the word "compensation" to convey the idea that the equivalent to be rendered for the property to be taken shall be real, substantial, full, ample.[7] It is the value as of the time of the taking that is the measure of the just compensation.[8] Stages and procedure There are two stages in every action of expropriation. The first is concerned with the determination of the authority of the plaintiff to exercise the power of eminent domain and the propriety of its exercise in the context of the facts involved in the suit. It ends either with an order of dismissal or an order of condemnation. The second phase of the eminent domain action is concerned with the determination by the court of the "just compensation for the property sought to be taken.[9]