Sotto, Gatchalian want gov't offices moved to provinces to decongest Metro Manila

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian proposed Tuesday decongesting Metro Manila by transferring government offices to the provinces to address the traffic congestion problem.

Sotto raised the possibility of transferring Malacañang to Clark in Pampanga, Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Zambales, Department of Public Works and Highways in Bulacan, for example, to dissuade people from trooping to Metro Manila.

“Another way to do perhaps or different kind of perspective as far as the grand transportation plan is concerned is to decongest Metro Manila itself by transferring all the government departments, offices out of Metro Manila,” Sotto said during the hearing conducted by the Senate public services committee.

“Kung ililipat mo ang Malacañang sa Clark, nililipat mo ang  Congress sa labas, ilipat ang DENR sa Zambales, DPWH sa Bulacan, ililipat mo ang iba’t ibang departamento sa iba’t ibang probinsiya you will be creating road corridors, you will be decongesting Metro Manila. Wala nang pupunta sa Metro Manila. Du'n sila pupunta, du'n sila magkakaroon ng business,” he added.

Sotto said the provincial bus ban on EDSA is a band-aid solution and will not totally address the problem.

Gatchalian agreed with Sotto saying he already filed a bill for the purpose.

“I filed this bill, ilipat ang seat of government sa Clark to decongest Metro Manila. Kapag nilipat du'n ang seat of government, pati infrastructure sasabay diyan, train, airport, intermodal transportation,” he said.

“We have to do drastic measures, not palliative dahil ang problema natin ay malala na po,” he added.

Under Senate Bill No. 876, Gatchalian is seeking to transfer the seat of the national government to New Clark City in Tarlac by 2030.

He said moving the permanent seat of government is not something new, and has been done in several countries including the United States, South Korea, Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia, which moved its administrative capital from Kuala Lumpur to the city of Putrajaya in 1999.

“The development of New Clark City is already part of President Duterte’s Build-Build-Build program, and is projected to contribute P1.57 trillion per year to the country’s gross domestic product upon its completion,” he said.

“This 9,450-hectare development has already set aside 1,514 hectares for a National Government Administrative Center that will house government offices and its attached agencies. It will be the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient and sustainable city that will have a mixed use of residential, commercial, agro-industrial, educational institutions, and information technology developments,” he added.

No parking

Sotto said another solution is implementing a no parking policy on all the streets of Metro Manila.

“Noong araw pa ito walang nakikinig. Ang sinasabi ko na talagang solusyon to decongest Metro Manila is no parking along streets of Metro Manila. Can you imagine if we remove all these parking areas, ‘yung EDSA maluwag ‘yan, ‘yung ibang mga sasakyan sa loob dadaan,” he said.

Gatchalian and Senator Joel Villanueva have already filed bills  seeking to implement a “no parking space, no car policy” in Metro Manila. —KG, GMA News