Police Highway Patrol back on EDSA

“We have to make sure traffic is moving on EDSA,” Orbos said in a statement.
 (Photo by Judgefloro – Own work, CC0)

MANILA— With the onset of the holiday season, the Inter-Agency Council (I-ACT) on Monday started the deployment of personnel from the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) to augment the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in decongesting traffic in EDSA.

MMDA General Manager and concurrent Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Thomas Orbos said more than 20 PNP-HPG personnel were deployed in P. Tuazon to Connecticut/White Plains in Quezon City while 40 additional personnel are positioned in other identified chokepoints in EDSA namely Balintawak, Cubao, Ortigas, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe and Taft Avenue.

“We have to make sure traffic is moving on EDSA,” Orbos said in a statement.

The I-ACT chief attributed the efficient and seamless coordination among the agencies as the HPG was able to apprehend 54 violators of traffic rules during its operations Monday.

These include 19 towed vehicles, one colorum vehicle impounded, nine motorcycles for not using helmet, 17 for illegal parking, seven for number coding violation, and one for disregarding traffic sign.

MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim lauded the initiative of the I-ACT. 

“We need all the help we can get to cushion the expected rise in vehicular volume this Christmas season,” he said.

I-ACT is an inter-agency body composed of DOTr, MMDA, PNP-HPG, Land Transportation Office (LTO), and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) tasked to address traffic congestion in Metro Manila, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, and Bulacan.

The MMDA earlier said it expects the number of vehicles passing through EDSA to increase from 6,800 vehicles per direction to 7,500 vehicles as the Christmas season draws near.

EDSA can only accommodate up to 6,000 vehicles per direction, it said.