Tugade added that he wanted to remove the boom barriers at toll plazas to allow faster entry of vehicles, under the cashless toll payment scheme, and emergency cars in expressways.
“If it is a problem of the system why should you make the public suffer? You bear the cost because that is your system,” Tugade told toll operators. “You should study that at the soonest possible time because I will implement it (removal of boom barriers).”
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 17) – President Rodrigo Duterte dared Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) officials to resign due to their ‘incompetence’ in handling the radio-frequency identification (RFID) stickering fiasco in tollways.
“I do not want you becoming a deadwood. If you cannot perform what is expected of you, for decency’s sake, resign and do not wait to be fired,” Duterte told TRB officials on Wednesday during the weekly Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting.
“If you cannot have a system in your office, kindly tell me and I will get another one to do it for you and for me,” he also said. “I don’t think you don’t really know what a regulator is.”
Duterte explained the TRB should not have allowed the toll operators in the get-go to implement the ‘flawed’ RFID installation system, which caused massive traffic jams in expressways due to the heavy volume of vehicles lining up to get their stickers.
“It should not have allowed the system to put into use without a trial for about one week and anticipate what would be the problem,” he said. “That is the correct frame of mind.”
The President also said he understood the move made by Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian in suspending the business permit of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) on Dec. 7 due to complaints of motorists about faulty RFID sensors and other issues that caused gridlock in the city.
The waiving of toll fees in Valenzuela-based NLEX exits, caused by the business permit suspension, was lifted on Wednesday noon after the local government and NLEX Corporation officials came up with an agreement on fee collection policies.
“The control of the traffic is always left to the local government,” the President said. “I understand his (Gatchalian) burst of anger that is justified para matauhan kayo (so that you will be taught a lesson).”
Duterte also expressed his frustration on the toll operators in their own handling of the RFID installation system.
“You do not think of the people who are paying you,” he said. “It beehoves upon you to do your best because the government is paying you. The people are paying yet they are being compromised.”
Transportation Secretary Art Tugade also apologized over the problems encountered in the RFID stickering program in expressways, aimed at converting paying toll fees in cashless modes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“There will be a day-to-day curing moments considering what is happening now in what we called as birthing experience” Tugade said. “We will fix that, Mr. President.”
San Miguel Tollways Corporation uses the AutoSweep RFID in operating expressways like South Luzon Expressway, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, Metro Manila Skyway, NAIA Expressway, and STAR Tollway. The Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation utilizes the EasyTrip RFID in NLEX, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, CAVITEX, and Cavite Laguna Expressway.
