House bus ban probe still on

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives will still conduct an inquiry into the planned provincial bus ban on EDSA despite the issuance by a Quezon City court of an order stopping it.

“We will go ahead with the probe in the hope that we could eventually craft new legislation that would help authorities solve the worsening traffic congestion plaguing EDSA and the rest of Metro Manila,” Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, whose resolution prompted the inquiry, said yesterday.

With the court order, he said the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) should now junk its plan to ban provincial buses from traversing EDSA.

The MMDA and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board intend to appeal the order of Regional Trial Court Branch 223.

The ban aims to ease traffic congestion on EDSA. The MMDA and local government units in the metropolis are also planning to remove provincial bus terminals along the highway.

Villafuerte said the ban would not really ease traffic congestion, as there are only 3,300 provincial buses that pass through EDSA, compared to 12,000 city buses and 247,000 private vehicles.

MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said the agency will leave it with operators if they would require their provincial bus drivers to drop off their passengers at interim terminals in Valenzuela, Parañaque and Laguna as part of the dry run of the ban on Wednesday. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab