Proposal for a Citizen Journalism Report : Issues/Problems of commuters and jeepney drivers going back and forth to Sta. Maria and Malolos, Bulacan.
PROPOSAL FOR A CITIZEN JOURNALISM REPORT
I. Topic
Issues/Problems of commuters and jeepney drivers going back and forth to Sta. Maria and Malolos, Bulacan.
II. Summary
Among the commuters especially the students from Bulacan State University always complain about the lack of jeepneys even if it's not rush hour when commuting from Sta. Maria - Malolos. Some questions that always arise are, “What is happening out there? Why are there no jeepneys available? Is it because of the Jeepney Phase Out that the government recently mandated?” These questions piqued our interest as journalists who are practicing citizen and community journalism. We decided to make it as our main concern/topic needed to be addressed in our output/s.
III. Rationale
We are curious and eager to know more about the following objectives indicated below related to the topic concern.
To know the reason behind the lack of jeepneys.
To be able to articulate if the problem is connected to the mandated jeepney phase out.
To be able to know how it affects the everyday lives of the commuters and drivers.
To be able to know the government’s plans and solutions regarding the issue.
To be able to execute the power of community and citizen journalism.
And lastly, to be able to enlighten the community of the roots of the problem that arises and inform them of correct information.
IV. Explanation
As citizens who also experience the struggles of the stated problem, this brought us to the idea to pursue this report by initially thinking of the reasons behind it. These ideas led us to generate questions that all commuters had in mind. We formulate interview or survey questions not just for commuters but also the drivers as well. These questions were our guide in order to know the real problem. Then, we immediately conduct the first interview taking the side of the commuters and drivers . After gathering the opinions of both commuters and drivers , we divided their answers according to their concerns and complaints to the problem. The total number of respondents accumulated was 10. With 5 number of commuter respondents and 5 number of driver respondents.
The questions that we formulated are;
Their Name , age and occupation
Gaano katagal ka nang nagcocommute sa Sta. Maria/Malolos? Gaano ka nang katagal na driver ng Sta. Maria/Malolos?
Gaano kahirap o kahassle sumakay? Gaano ka-hassle maging driver?
Ano ang inisyal na opinyon sa kakulangan ng jeep na kailangan mong sakyan? Ano ang inisyal na opinyon mo sa kaisipan ng commuter na kulang ang jeep sa inyong ruta?
Ano ang epekto nito sa pang araw-araw mong pamumuhay?
Ano ang iyong mga suhestiyon upang masolusyunan ang mga problemang ito?
Summary of answers we got from the respondents;
Commuters’ Opinion
The commuters' insights were that the lack of jeepney was caused by the mandated jeepney phase out; they also think it is caused by a heavy flow of traffic among the routes.
Drivers’ Opinion
We were expecting the same insights from the drivers but it turns out that it is a quite different reason. They stated that there are enough jeepneys that are on rotation in the Sta. Maria - Malolos Terminal and it actually has nothing to do with the jeepney phase out as the drivers also said that they have no idea if it is going to be executed anytime soon. In fact, the problem is rooted from mismanagement of traffic rules specifically in Malolos traffic light management. They said that it caused traffic because the time in those traffic lights was not operating in sequence.
After conducting the interview for commuters and drivers, the following we request for an interview for officials and authorities that we think can answer our questions and can address the commuters and drivers complaints/ opinion. The total number of respondents accumulated to this survey was initially 2 only. With one barangay official respondent and a traffic enforcer respondent.
These are the questions formulated for Sta. Maria Authorities/Officials.
1. Name, Age, Position sa gobyerno , Gaano na katagal sa serbisyo.
2. Ano ang sa tingin niyo ang nakikitang problema kung bakit patuloy ang traffic sa Sta. Maria?
3. Sa tingin ninyo, sino ang responsable sa problema sa trapiko ng bayan ng Sta. Maria? Ano ang solusyon inyong maaaring maging tugon?
These are the questions formulated for Malolos Authorities/Officials.
1. Name, Age, Position sa gobyerno , Gaano na katagal sa serbisyo.
2. Bakit po kaya muling pinagana ang mga stop lights? Ano po ang mga benefits ng mga ito?
3. Posible po ba na matanggal o kahit mabawasan man lang po yung mga stoplight sa Malolos base sa mga daing ng drivers at commuters? Kung hindi, bakit?
4. Ano ang mga hakbang na pwedeng gawin ng gobyerno upang mabigyan ng solusyon ang mga hinaing ng mga drivers at commuters?
Summary
In summary, in cases of Sta. Maria, the traffic causes according to an official is the lack of discipline of people, and also the binded hands of government officials. These actions led to a disruption of the municipality's traffic management system that caused lots of traffic issues that the municipality had.
In cases of the City of Malolos, traffic lights serve a purpose for safety and traffic ordinances that should be issued properly. There may be some issues in the shorter end that cause the cueing of vehicles during rush hours and the likes, there are ordinances that are being rolled out and being studied in order for the said issues to be resolved.
In all accordance with the officials being interviewed, they see to it that all mandated ordinances are for the safety of the people and these ordinances are being studied carefully and they are working for it to become better.
After the second interview, we personally think as a group that the answers we collected to the first two officials/authorities are not enough and can’t fully address the topic concerns, that is why we eagerly pushed to have an interview to at least one official in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Tikay, Malolos , Bulacan as we first planned but can’t do since they did not respond within the deadline of Survey 2.
Summary of the interview:
In an interview with a professional and seasoned maintenance engineer at DPWH - Malolos, Engineer Jaime Hernandez clearly stated that the mandate of traffic lights is for the safety of the drivers and commuters, it's not for display nor decoration but for safety. He also emphasizes the fact that it should be implemented now but there are some issues particularly to the traffic system that Malolos have. The Annual Average Daily Traffic or AADT is currently outdated as it didn't have the current data of the traffic experienced of people in the present time. He said that this was being studied by the City Traffic Management of Malolos as well as the DPWH - Malolos. It was also stated by Engr. Hernandez said that the DPWH could only perform action if there are ‘blessings’ for the City Government in order for compliance and actions could be made to ease the traffic system.
As of now, these are the things we did to pursue this story. Further interviews, research and documentation will be conducted to continue the story such as interviews in the City Government as well as for the City Traffic Management of Malolos .
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