THE Metro Manila Development Authority said it would continue to clear national and main roads of illegally parked vehicles and other obstructions to ease traffic before and during the Holy Week.
The MMDA said it would deploy more than 2,300 for Holy Week to man traffic flow on busy roads in Metro Manila first week of April this year.
MMDA general manager Tim Orbos said most of the traffic enforcers would be assigned near bus terminals, churches, ports and airport terminals.
“We expected traffic to be less heavy in Metro Manila next week since a lot of residents were expected to leave for the provinces,” he said.
Expected to be affected as well were roads leading to SLEx such as Magallanes, Quirino Avenue and Osmeña Avenue; and Balintawak, A. Bonifacio, Mindanao Avenue and Visayas Avenue headed for NLEx.
In a statement, Orbos said the MMDA had towed more than 3,000 since January this year.
Based on the report of the agency’s Traffic Discipline Office, the MMDA towed a total of 3,128 illegally parked vehicles in the roads of Metro Manila from January to February, or an average of 53 vehicles daily.
Some 1,770 vehicles were apprehended and towed in January while in February 1,358 were towed by MMDA.
Orbos said the large number of towed units clearly indicated that many motorists had no proper garage or adequate parking space for their vehicles.
“But it does not give them the right to park their vehicles anywhere they want,” Orbos said.
According to the comparative report, the number of towed vehicles had steadily risen since 2012 when only 1, 881 illegally parked vehicles were impounded.
In 2013, the number grew to 3,312 towed vehicles and climbed even further in 2014 with 4,010.
The figures skyrocketed in 2015 with 10,264 illegally-parked vehicles towed.
MMDA personnel from the Anti-Illegal Parking and Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group have been relentless in getting rid of vehicles obstructing the streets in Metro Manila, especially the Mabuhay Lanes, or the alternate routes for motorists to avoid Edsa, officials saID.