With the worsening road traffic in Metro Manila, the home of 2.8 million vehicles, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said Friday hiring more traffic management personnel should be a priority.
He cited the MMDA post that, with only 2,000 traffic personnel in its payroll, the MMDA was 5,000 short of the 7,000 field staff it needed.
As a result, Recto said, he was supporting the appeal of the Metro Manila Development Authority for “funds and authority” to employ additional traffic personnel.
In other developments:
• A leader of the House of Representatives on Friday called for the abolition of the manual fare system and have it replaced with the electronic card (E-card) or beep card system.
Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento of Samar, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation, said his proposal was part of the one-year road map that is envisioned to solve the monstrous EDSA traffic.
Sarmiento earlier pushed for a single super franchise to allow a synchronized dispatch system for the Metro Manila buses plying EDSA.
• The MMDA resumed its road-clearing operation on Friday, this time in Quezon City, tagged as one of the most congested cities in the National Capital Region as a result of its many obstructions.
The MMDA, led by its chairman Danilo Lim, conducted the clearing operation with the help of officials and personnel of the Interior department, the Philippine National Police and the Quezon City Government.
Recto said the surge in the number of vehicles, major roads and critical intersections in the capital region now required the “round-the-clock and rain-or-shine” supervision of MMDA personnel.
“MMDA needs an active night brigade,” Recto said.
“In the last five years, 11,530 vehicles were added monthly and registered in the National Capital Region. This does not include the vehicles from Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan that regularly go to Metro Manila.”
Another reason was the increasing number of vehicular accidents, which in 2017 soared to 110,025 reported cases, Recto said.
“With this epidemic in road crashes, we need more men to come to the aid of the injured and clear the road of obstructions, he said.
If government rules bar the MMDA from using its internally generated income, “then it must be allowed to tap a portion of the P168 million it collects in traffic and littering fines annually”•specifically for the hiring of more personnel,” Recto said.
But the best solution was to increase the funds the MMDA receives from the national government through the General Appropriations Act, Recto said.
In 2018, the MMDA was given P3.688 billion in that year’s national budget. It also received P3.636 billion in mandatory contributions from its member towns and cities. With Maricel V. Cruz and Joel E. Zurbano