Government officials on Monday urged the general public to strictly adhere to health guidelines, particularly COVID-19 safety to ward off a recurrence of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it would expand the coverage of free rides enjoyed by commuters in Metro Manila to cover the rest of the country.
On the other hand, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced that the number coding, also called color coding, was suspended beginning today (Holy Tuesday) until Monday next week.
MMDA officials, along with top executives of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) issued the call for travelers not to lay down their guards against the coronavirus following a joint inspection at the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) where they observed a high volume of province-bound passengers.
The call was significant in light of a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory urging the people to remain vigilant as the world marked the second anniversary of the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The public needs to remain on alert as virus surges in other parts of the world might result in a new variant,” said Dr. Rajendra Prasav Yadav, acting WHO Representative to the Philippines.
MMDA chairman Romando Artes and general manager Undersecretary Frisco San Juan Jr., DOTr Undersecretary for Road Sector Mark Steven Pastor, and LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra III conducted the inspection to ensure orderly and safe travel of passengers, and the government’s health protocols against the coronavirus disease were being followed.
“We want to ensure a safe and convenient movement of motorists and commuters during the Holy Week. We have seen that passengers are starting to crowd the terminal. At present, the commuter volume at PITX is 100,000 daily,” Artes said.
The officials also assured travelers that their trips to the provinces and back would be secured and convenient this Holy Week.
Artes said traffic personnel have been posted at transport terminals, traffic chokepoints, and major churches. “We will exert all efforts to ensure that there will be a faster turn-around of passenger buses at terminals.”
“We are suspending the number coding scheme to provide the public unhampered mobility by allowing them to use their vehicles going to the provinces,” he added.
Pastor said they were expecting the number of passengers to increase this week for the first time in two years since the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that commuters in Metro Manila are also being offered free rides at the EDSA Busway Carousel beginning Holy Monday.
For his part, Delgra ordered a review of the service plan or deployment of passenger buses to address the demand for public transport during Holy Week traditionally described as a peak season.
The public can also call the MMDA’s Metrobase Hotline 136 for traffic updates and road assistance. MMDA Road Emergency Group members are on standby to attend to road emergencies.
The DOTr said it is set to expand this week the routes nationwide to offer free rides to passengers under the third phase of its Service Contracting Program.
During a Laging Handa briefing, Pastor said “libreng sakay” initiative among public utility vehicles (PUVs) such as modern and traditional
jeepneys, UV Express, and buses has started on Monday.
This week, we will also launch or rollout various routes around the country. Under the Service Contracting Program, the public could be
assured that the free rides will return not only be implemented in the National Capital Region, but also in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The LTFRB said the EDSA Bus Carousel route would be among the first service lines to be activated in this initiative.
In the next few days, the LTFRB would open the NLEX to Metro Manila service route for the free ridership program.
“The government will pay the PUV drivers’ daily operational cost,” Pastor said, adding that the program has a budget of P7 billion under the 2022 General Appropriations Act.
“This will be effective as long as we have funds. We have allocated P7 billion for this and we will spend it to ensure the income of our drivers and operators and help our countrymen save from their transportation expenses,” he said.
Pastor also said that under the Service Contracting Program, bus drivers in the EDSA busway would get P84 instead of the previous P82 per kilometer.
Jeepney and bus drivers would receive an additional P1 per kilometer or P55 from P54 considering the series of price hikes on fuel.
Under the LTFRB’s service contracting program, PUV operators and drivers who will participate in the government’s free ridership program will receive a one-time payout and weekly compensation based on the number of kilometers traveled per week, with or without
passengers.
The MMDA earlier reactivated its “Oplan Metro Alalay Semana Santa (Oplan MASS)” aimed to ensure the safety of the motorists and commuters during the Lenten break.
The agency will deploy more than 2,000 personnel, consisting of traffic enforcers, roadside clearing groups, anti-jaywalking, road safety, and towing personnel, among others, on major thoroughfares in the metropolis.
Traffic personnel will be fielded on traffic chokepoint areas in Metro Manila such as in the vicinity of bus terminals, roads leading to seaports, harbors, airports; and major churches.
The MMDA also declared a “no day-off and no-absent policy” for all traffic personnel, particularly on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, when traffic is expected to be heavy.
Oplan MASS is reactivated in coordination with government agencies such as Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the DoTr, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Office of Civil Defense (OCD, and Metro Manila local
government units.
