{"id":227121,"date":"2019-08-16T23:08:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-17T03:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=227121"},"modified":"2019-08-16T23:08:51","modified_gmt":"2019-08-17T03:08:51","slug":"mmda-calls-on-public-to-help-capture-edsa-box-culprit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/16\/mmda-calls-on-public-to-help-capture-edsa-box-culprit\/","title":{"rendered":"MMDA calls on public to help capture EDSA ‘box’ culprit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: ‘BALIKBAYAN BOX’ BOMB SCARE. A large “balik-bayan box” was found left in the middle of the Shaw Boulevard underpass along Edsa on Friday (August 16, 2019). The MMDA immediately followed emergency procedures and closed one lane each from both northbound and southbound lanes of the thoroughfare. (Photo courtesy of MMDA via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Friday urged the driving public to help identify persons who left a balikbayan box in the middle of Shaw Boulevard Underpass along EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue) in Mandaluyong City, which caused fear among motorists and traffic gridlock at the major thoroughfare.<\/p>\n

MMDA EDSA\u00a0Special Traffic and Transport Zone head Edison \u201cBong\u201d Nebrija urged those with dashcams who went through the underpass earlier in the day to bring a copy of their video to the Mandaluyong police.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakipatulungan na lang sa<\/em>\u00a0Mandaluyong police,\u00a0ibigay yung<\/em>copy\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0dashcam\u00a0para matukoy kung sino yung gumagawa nito<\/em>(They must work with the Mandaluyong police and give a copy of their dashcam video so we can identify the perpetrator),\u201d Nebrija said in an ambush interview at the MMDA office in Makati City.<\/p>\n

While admitting that identifying the culprit is difficult as there was no traffic camera at the underpass, Nebrija said they are currently looking into other options.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng pinapa<\/em>-trace\u00a0natin, hanapin nila yung bago mag<\/em>-underpass,\u00a0at paakyat ng<\/em>\u00a0underpass (What we are trying to trace is to find out those who went through the underpass, before the underpass and those going up from the underpass). Both directions\u00a0kasi nasa gitna nilagay<\/em>(because it was placed in the middle), it could be coming from any direction. It could be north-bound or south-bound,\u201d Nebrija said.<\/p>\n

The incident resulted in a 10-kilometer traffic standstill after the MMDA closed one lane each from both northbound and southbound lanes as precaution against the suspected bomb threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNakakalungkot na kailangan mangyari \u2018to. Maraming<\/em>\u00a0personnel resources\u2014mga<\/em>\u00a0personnel\u00a0na ginamit diyan, yung mga<\/em>\u00a0equipment (It saddening that this had to happen. A lot of personnel resources were used\u2014personnel, equipment), the time\u2014a lot of time wasted,\u201d Nebrija said.<\/p>\n

He said the MMDA ensured proper precautions were made following the incident since a real bomb could have caused massive damage, not only to infrastructure, but to the lives of civilians as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa ibabaw nun madami<\/em>\u00a0pedestrians\u00a0na dumadaan sa<\/em>\u00a0(Above that, there are many pedestrians going through) Shaw Boulevard. So, you could just imagine\u00a0kung totoong bomba yan<\/em>\u00a0(if that was a real bomb), how much destruction\u2014the tunnel itself could collapse.\u00a0‘Yung<\/em>\u00a0MRT,\u00a0kahit sabihin mong walang dumaan kapag sumabog yan,<\/em>\u00a0the mere fact\u00a0na masira mo ang<\/em>\u00a0MRT,\u00a0ilang pasahero ang maaapektuhan niyan araw-araw habang kinukumpuni<\/em>\u00a0(The MRT, even if there were no trains going through that area when the bomb explodes, the mere fact that the MRT is damaged, there will be many commuters affected every day the line is under repair),\u201d Nebrija said.<\/p>\n

The incident was said to be the fifth time within the last seven days where obstructions were placed in EDSA resulting in traffic congestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnang-una,<\/em>\u00a0nung<\/em>\u00a0weekend,\u00a0may nagtapon ng basura sa<\/em>\u00a0P. Tuazon tunnel.\u00a0May tinamaan na sasakyan. Ang mga kumalat na papel dun<\/em>, lotto. It still caused traffic\u00a0dahil lilinisin<\/em>\u00a0(First, over the weekend, someone threw trash in P. Tuazon Tunnel. A vehicle was hit. The papers scattered around were lotto tickets. It caused traffic because we had to clean it),\u201d Nebrija said.<\/p>\n

The MMDA hopes to file a case of economic sabotage to whoever is found responsible for the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cPwede sana natin kasuhan ng<\/em>\u00a0economic sabotage\u00a0eh. Kasi yung mga tao magtra-trabaho na<\/em>\u00a0na<\/em>-delay,\u00a0hindi nakapasok<\/em>\u00a0because of that obstruction \u2014\u00a0sa haba ng oras, ilang oras yun<\/em>\u00a0(Perhaps we could file a case of economic sabotage. Because those who work were delayed or did not make it to work because of that obstruction\u2014it took a long time, it took several hours). And then the delay of the traffic itself, is a loss for the economy,\u201d Nebrija said.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post at about 10:30 a.m., Nebrija said they found a large \u201cbalikbayan box\u201d placed in the middle of the Shaw Boulevard Underpass in Edsa and subsequently called the attention of National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar regarding the incident.<\/p>\n

Following an investigation by an explosive ordnance disposal team from the Philippine National Police, Mandaluyong police chief, Col. Remigio Sendanto said the box only contained styrofoam and other rubbish.<\/p>\n

All lanes were immediately opened after no threats were found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Friday urged the driving public to help identify persons who left a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":227122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-raymond-carl-dela-cruz","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227123,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227121\/revisions\/227123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}