MMDA leads EDSA blessing

A Don Mariano Bus is being hauled after it hit the railing along EDSA Ortigas southbound flyover in Quezon City. ARNOLD ALMACEN/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines—The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority sought divine intervention Friday for the guidance and enlightenment of drivers to prevent any more accidents from happening along the busy Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue.

Riding on one of the MMDA’s green open-top pickup trucks, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino and Fr. Roderick Castro, parish priest at the Guadalupe Church in Makati, sprinkled holy water along the northbound lane of EDSA on Friday mornig starting from Magallanes in Makati to Balintawak in Quezon City.

Another MMDA convoy, led by General Manager Corazon Jimenez and another priest, sprinkled holy water on the southbound lane of Edsa at the same time.

Tolentino noted that since EDSA, orginally known as Highway 54, was built in the 1940s, the road, now a backbone of Metro Manila traffic, has not been blessed entirely.

“There have been some blessings, like when the MRT was opened or when flyovers were inaugurated, but no one has really thought of blessing the whole road,” Tolentino said.

“With this, we hope and pray, seeking the help of the Lord, to lessen the road accidents which happen along EDSA,” he added.