Solon’s suggestion: Enforce 4-day work week instead of HOV policy to ease traffic

A congressman has called on Metro Manila mayors to consider adopting a proposal to implement a four-day work week instead of the controversial high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) policy which bars driver-only vehicles from Edsa.

Rep. Carlos Roman Uybarreta of the 1-Care party-list and vice chair of the House committee on energy said the compressed work week could mean millions of pesos in fuel savings as there would be fewer vehicles on the road.

“For each driver or motorist working in a government office or a private citizen going to a government office to seek services, that is an immediate 20 percent worth of weekly fuel savings because one day is 20 percent or one-fifth of a five-day work week,” he explained in a statement.

Flexible working sked

The four-day work week was earlier proposed by election lawyer Romulo Makalintal, who suggested that it could be implemented in some adjacent cities in Metro Manila.

Uybarreta said the work week could be Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday.

Metro Manila mayors should set an example by adopting the four-day work week on a trial basis from October to December, when traffic was particularly heavy due to the onset of the holiday season, he added.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government could also implement the four-day work schedule, starting with convincing government officials of Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite and Laguna to enforce it in their areas.

For national agencies with main offices and field offices in Metro Manila, only Malacañang would have the authority to order them to enforce the four-day work week, he said.

Under the HOV policy which is being enforced without penalties for now by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), driver-only vehicles are banned from Edsa from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays.

Despite public criticism and a Senate resolution urging it to lift the ban, the MMDA said on Friday that it would expand the dry run of the policy “indefinitely” to determine its effectivity. —WITH A REPORT FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING