HPG, MMDA deploy more men on EDSA, other metro main roads

The Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Saturday began the deployment of additional personnel along the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) and other major thoroughfares of Metro Manila.

In a report of Rida Reyes aired on GMA News Balitanghali, she said around 300 additional HPG personnel and 350 additional MMDA personnel are deployed along EDSA and on secondary roads or the Mabuhay lanes in Metro Manila.

The Mabuhay lanes are the inner streets that serve as alternate routes for private vehicles especially during rush hours.

HPG director Senior Superintendent Antonio Gardiola Jr. himself who supervised the deployment of additional HPG personnel along EDSA-Cubao area, where some provincial bus terminals are located.

Cubao area is considered as among major chokepoints along EDSA due to frequent traffic buildups usually caused by the influx of provincial buses.

The deployment of additional HPG and MMDA personnel along EDSA and secondary roads of Metro Manila was in accordance with the immediate solutions identified by the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic or IACT to address the traffic problems in Metro Manila.

Early this month the Department of Transportation launched the IACT to implement immediate solutions to the country’s traffic problems while the administration awaits Congress to grant emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The IACT is composed of the heads and key officials of DOTr, PNP-HPG, MMDA, Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

During the initial meeting of the council, it agreed to no longer confine the HPG personnel on EDSA and to deploy them in other roads of the entire Metro Manila.

“The MMDA and HPG personnel will be working hand-in-hand in enforcing traffic rules. We will make sure na hindi mag-ooverlap yung functions nila. That is why the inter-agency on traffic team will also come up with one chain-of-command para mas mapadali ang pag tra-trabaho,” Gardiola said. —Elizabeth Marcelo/ALG, GMA News