Senate panel to hold hearing on provincial bus ban
MANILA, Philippines — A Senate hearing on the EDSA provincial bus ban is all set next week as the traffic situation along Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare continues to worsen.
The Senate committee on public services will tackle the proposed provincial bus ban along EDSA on August 13.
Sen. Grace Poe, the panel’s chair, said transport should explain the gridlock that has choked EDSA and brought misery to the riding public.
The stricter implementation of the yellow lane policy by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority this week resulted in gridlock. The policy, which allows buses to use the two outermost lanes in EDSA, inadvertently worsened traffic since Monday.
The traffic situation also coincided with the dry run of the provincial bus ban along EDSA, which pushed through despite an injunction from a Quezon City court.
“Bakit ginagawa tayong parang science project, puro eksperimento, habang taumbayan naman ang nagdurusa?” Poe said, noting that traffic schemes should consider both vehicles and people.
(Why are we being treated like a science project, like an experiment while the public is suffering?)
The senator added the proposed bus ban should be thoroughly scrutinized, especially amid the clamor to suspend it and the legal questions raised by some groups before the courts.
“We will thresh out all these issues in a productive dialogue will have a voice and will be part of the solution,” Poe said.
Some groups argued the Metro Manila Council approved the proposal of the MMDA without public consultations or hearings. They also pointed out the policy will affect mostly poor people from the provinces. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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