The Metro Manila Development Authority on Friday announced it will prohibit slow-moving funeral corteges or processions to use major thoroughfares in Metro Manila as part of the government’s initiative to improve the traffic condition in the metropolis.
MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos said members of the Inter-agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) came up with the decision to ban the funeral along main roads to prevent traffic buildup on busy streets.
He added the funeral services industry agreed with the move during in a meeting with I-ACT officials at the MMDA main office in Makati City on the consensus in the use of major roads in Metro Manila.
Orbos said some of the agreements the I-ACT agreed upon after consultation with funeral transport service providers are:
• Once the funeral convoy leaves the funeral parlor, it shall proceed at normal traffic speed.
• The hearse and its convoy shall obey traffic rules. The convoy shall stop or gets cut once the traffic signal turns red. No stopping of traffic to allow the hearse and its convoy to pass.
• For those requiring walks, as per tradition/culture, designated walk areas will be identified based on the assessment of funeral parlors.
Orbos said the funeral services industry players understand and recognize the need to ease the traffic condition in the roads. He added the agreements on funeral procession are now being enforced until the end of the year and will be re-assessed and fine-tuned and recalibrated.
“Member-agencies of the I-ACT are continuously exploring and consulting every sector of society because we believe that we need not only the active participation of government but also of the private entities as well to come up with traffic solutions,” Orbos said.
I-ACT is composed of the Department of Transportation, MMDA, Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Land Transportation Office, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.