No Holy Week absences, leaves allowed for MMDA personnel

Traffic constables show body cameras for use in law enforcement activity. The cameras aim to prevent bribery. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — No leaves and holidays will be allowed for personnel of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) during the Holy Week.

“We are on full deployment during Holy Week, [we have] no absent and no leave policy,” MMDA Chairman Romando Artes said in a press conference in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Artes said the MMDA would deploy 2,274 personnel all over Metro Manila for the Holy Week, which is the most solemn period in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar when Christians commemorate the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago.

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Despite this full force, the MMDA is allowing a heat stroke break for its personnel.

Under the heat stroke break policy, on-duty MMDA traffic enforcers and street sweepers are allowed to leave their posts in shifts to rehydrate and seek cover, away from the scorching ray of the sun, for 30 minutes.

State meteorologists on Friday officially declared the onset of summer.