Chairman Danilo Lim of the Metro Manila Development Authority ordered the deployment of more than 2,000 traffic personnel to ensure a safe and orderly opening of classes in Metro Manila on Monday.
Lim said 2,500 traffic personnel are set for deployment before 5 a.m. on June 3 and the succeeding days when other schools start to open to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in the metropolis.
“We shall field traffic personnel in traffic-prone areas around the metropolis and monitor traffic situation on roads leading to schools so we can easily augment personnel when needed,” he said.
Teroy Taguinod, head of the MMDA Traffic Discipline Office, said district traffic heads were reminded to coordinate with school authorities, barangays, and local traffic officials to discuss measures on how to ease traffic within the vicinity of schools.
“We have coordination with some school administrators to allow picking up and dropping off of students inside school premises so as not to obstruct vehicular flow on school zones,” said Taguinod.
He also ordered his men to be at their designated areas, be courteous and strictly enforce existing traffic rules and regulations at all times, citing that presence of traffic enforcers signify order on the road.
During school days, traffic congestion in the vicinity of schools usually causes spillover of vehicles on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and other major roads in the metropolis, so there is a need to work together with the stakeholders, he added.
The MMDA is one of the partner-agencies of Department of Education’s Inter-Agency Task Force for this year’s Oplan Balik Eskwela.
Under the program, workers of the agency participated in sprucing up schools, teaching school authorities and students about disaster preparedness, and repainting faded pedestrian lanes in some schools for the safety of the students.