More cops on EDSA; HPG to issue traffic tickets

MANILA, Philippines - Anticipating a heavier workload in controlling the chaotic traffic situation along EDSA, the police Highway Patrol Group (HPG) will add 60 more troops to boost its manpower in improving the flow of traffic along the 23-kilometer highway.

HPG spokesman Supt. Oliver Tanseco said the training seminar for the 60 traffic policemen would also include authorization to issue traffic violation receipts of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

In addition to the authority to issue traffic citation tickets from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the HPG troops will be allowed to issue traffic violation tickets from the LTO.

“This carries a heavier penalty than the ones from the MMDA,” Tanseco said.

He said there are now 170 HPG personnel involved in traffic management along EDSA’s chokepoints in Balintawak, Cubao, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe and Pasay Rotunda.

A week after the HPG started manning the six chokepoints, Tanseco said the HPG will adjust some of the U-turn slots, particularly the one located near Trinoma Mall and near the MRT station in Quezon Avenue.

The HPG on Saturday also advised motorists using the southbound lane of EDSA of the ongoing rehabilitation of the Dario Bridge near Muñoz Market.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) ordered the closure of four lanes of the highway to allow for the repair of the bridge.

HPG director Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao lamented the DPWH did not coordinate with them on the repair of the bridge.

“The DPWH also opened the Munoz barricade and everything was a mess,” he added.

The bridge repair triggered a traffic jam reaching the North Expressway, officials said yesterday.

“There was no coordination from DPWH engineers, the road was practically closed,” MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said.

Tolentino said even if 1,000 traffic enforcers were deployed in the area, the bottleneck could not be untangled.

Preparations

Tanseco said additional HPG personnel would be deployed to other areas along EDSA, apart from the six main chokepoints.

He blamed motorists, particularly bus and taxi drivers, for ignoring traffic rules that contributed to congestion at the major chokepoints.

According to Tanseco, seeing the HPG officers apparently reminded erring motorists, to obey traffic rules.

He said the HPG plans to eventually maximize alternate routes for motorists coming from the eastern and western part of EDSA, to lessen the volume of vehicles on the main road.

Gunnacao, for his part, advised motorists to try alternative routes and avoid EDSA.

Gunnacao stressed the deployment of the HPG in EDSA is part of the national government’s efforts to address the traffic problem in Metro Manila, with the help of various government agencies and local government units.

Local truck ban

The Parañaque city government, for its part, implemented a truck ban on all of the city’s streets.

Mayor Edwin Olivarez explained it was an “expansion” of the previous city ordinance that was being implemented on secondary roads.

Under the city’s expanded truck ban, trucks are not being allowed to pass through the Sucat Road, the East and West Service Roads of the South Luzon Expressway, Ninoy Aquino Avenue, Airport Road and Quirino Avenue.

The ban will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.

Olivarez also ordered the opening of roads inside private subdivisions as “friendship route” for motorists as alternative routes.

He also ordered the removal of illegal and ambulant vendors from all sidewalks as well as the strict enforcement of a tricycle ban along the city’s main roads.

Olivarez has ordered the deployment of more traffic enforcers along Roxas Boulevard and to clear the road of illegal vendors in front of Baclaran Church.

The Baclaran Seven

Ambulant vendors usually play hide and seek by going to the side of Pasay City whenever Parañaque city government conducts clearing operations in Baclaran.

Illegal vendors also occupy the one-kilometer stretch of Taft Avenue from Baclaran to EDSA, closing it to vehicular traffic for several years.

Sources revealed the vendors pay an average of P1 million a day in exchange for their stay in the area.

Sources said the “Baclaran Seven,” the heads of the seven vendors’ organizations, collect the daily fees from illegal vendors. The group reportedly exercises control in the area and remits the collection to certain personalities in Pasay and Parañaque every three months. –Perseus Echeminada