Motorists fume as poll rallies jam roads

MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino

Next to long campaign speeches, the other pet peeve of the season must be a badly placed campaign stage.

Mounting complaints over heavy traffic caused by political rallies prompted a meeting on Wednesday between the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Commission on Elections

(Comelec).

“I’m here at the Comelec office to meet (Chair Sixto Brillantes). We are about to discuss exactly what you are saying,” MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino told the Inquirer on the phone when asked how the MMDA was addressing the complaints posted on its own Facebook site.

Tolentino said the two agencies will study proposals to bar rally organizers from closing major roads just to construct temporary stages and allot space for their audience, as what has been happening since the campaign period for local candidates in the May elections started over the weekend.

Netizens have since been venting their ire through the MMDA’s Facebook page, asking the agency to intervene. The agency, however, mainly manages traffic flow on major thoroughfares like Edsa and Commonwealth Avenue, and not on inner streets which are under the local governments.

On Wednesday morning, for example, the intersection of P. Ocampo Street and Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City was closed to traffic because of the proclamation rally of reelectionist

Mayor Junjun Binay

Mayor Junjun Binay and party.

The afternoon event was also expected to be attended by some senatorial candidates of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), whose leaders include his father, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

On Monday, several roads in Manila were also clogged for hours due to the proclamation rally of reelectionist Mayor Alfredo Lim at the Bonifacio Shrine near the City Hall, a program also graced by President Aquino.

“Abala talaga mga pulitiko (These politicians are such a bother),” said netizen Louie Florcruz in a post concerning the Manila rally.

Mayor Alfredo Lim

‘’Blame the Liberal Party for this!’’ added Marlon Cenarillos Pacheco, referring to the President’s party that is supporting Lim.

Another irked motorist said it took her two hours, instead of the usual 30 minutes, to travel from Quezon City to Manila that day.

Others wondered why sports complexes, coliseums and open spaces like parks and campus grounds were not being used for such gatherings.

“(It was) really a bad idea. They should have held their rally at Quirino Grandstand,” said Czar delos Reyes-Guevarra.