MMDA wants traffic plan for events

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is now requiring event organizers to submit “comprehensive traffic management plan” after a Valentine’s Day concert created traffic gridlocks in the metropolis, an official said yesterday.

MMDA officer-in-charge Tim Orbos said his office was not notified of comedian Vice Ganda’s concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, which caused heavy traffic along EDSA from Cubao in Quezon City until Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati.

“Organizers and establishments of such events must submit to us their comprehensive traffic management plan at least one week in advance for proper coordination and information dissemination so as not to cause too much public inconvenience,” he said.

Orbos said the MMDA could have provided the needed traffic enforcers to man the traffic in Cubao if only event organizers informed the agency prior to the concert. Thousands of Vice Ganda fans gathered at the venue.

He said the MMDA does not intend to restrict any event, only “to keep vehicles moving, particularly along EDSA and its peripherals.”

Orbos said requiring a traffic plan before an event aims only to ensure that enough traffic enforcers will be deployed to the venue. He added that this order also covers all crowd-drawers such as fun runs and rallies.

Orbos warned event organizers that the MMDA will be compelled to seek the intervention of the Metro Manila Council (MMC) if they refuse to comply with the agency’s order.

The MMC, which is composed of Metro Manila mayors, is the policy-making body of the MMDA.

It issued a resolution in 2016 regulating the conduct of fun runs and similar events held along Roxas Boulevard.