Panelo survives ‘commute challenge,’ declares traffic (but not transport) crisis

Oct 11, 2019 | Top Stories

By Felipe F. Salvosa II

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo took the “commute challenge” on Friday, as he bristled over suggestions he lacked empathy for the riding public enduring long queues for train rides and Metro Manila’s choked thoroughfares on a daily basis.

After four hours of riding public transportation that took him through a circuitous route to Malacañang, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo admitted there was a traffic crisis in the metropolis, but not a mass transport crisis as critics alleged.

Panelo took the “commute challenge” on Friday, as he bristled over suggestions he lacked empathy for the riding public enduring long queues for train rides and Metro Manila’s choked thoroughfares on a daily basis.

READ: Traffic, not transportation crisis — DOTr official

READ: De Lima to Panelo: ‘You’re out of touch’

Panelo however took an indirect route. He first rode a jeepney near a family member’s home in New Manila to Cubao in Quezon City at about 5 a.m., then rode another jeepney to Marikina just in time for rush hour at about 10 minutes past 6 a.m.

Panelo said he wanted to try going to the Palace from Concepcion in Marikina, where he lived. He rode another jeep but it was unclear whether he went back to Cubao or rode the same vehicle all the way to Mendiola Bridge a few meters away from the Palace gates.

From Mendiola, a private motorcycle took him to Malacañang, Panelo said, as there were no tricycles available.

Avoiding media people who tried to tail him, Panelo took selfies and even held up a copy of the day’s newspaper as proof that Photoshop was not involved. Other passengers seemed impervious of the presence of President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman and chief legal counsel in their midst.

In a noon press briefing, Panelo hit the media, particularly two ABS-CBN radio anchors, for casting remarks he made on Tuesday in a negative light.

Panelo explained that when he said people should leave their homes earlier to get to work on time, he was actually praising Filipinos for their capacity to adapt to difficult situations.

“What I was trying to point out is that, we Filipinos are very creative…We do something about it, because we might be late, we give ourselves allowance of two to three hours, everyone does that,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“So, it was not an offensive statement, they (critics) were the only ones who said it was an insult to the public…That is why I complained to the chairman of ABS-CBN,” he added.

Panelo said the militant group Bayan challenged the wrong person to ride public transport. “I grew up on the streets,” he said.

But he admitted that traffic has worsened and Philippine infrastructure was 20 years behind. “What we have is a traffic crisis, but not a transportation crisis. Because when you say transportation crisis you have no vehicles to ride, traffic is paralyzed,” he said.

“Infrastructure is really the solution, plus cut the number of cars on the road by retiring the old ones. It’s a big problem, but the President is doing something about it,” Panelo said.

Panelo pointed out that President Duterte sought emergency powers in 2016 to solve the traffic problem, but Congress refused.

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes was unimpressed and said Panelo only proved his point.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. called it for Panelo on Twitter.

In contrast, Panelo’s predecessor Harry Roque drew more flak in 2017 when he rode the MRT-3 line with much publicity. It was discovered later that MRT-3 guards cleared the way for his hassle-free ride. (PressONE.ph)