Only Makati senior citizens are exempted from city number coding scheme

MANILA, Philippines—The Makati local government clarified on Tuesday that only senior citizens living in the country’s financial center could drive within it with an exemption from the number coding scheme.

City Information Officer Joey Salgado made the statement in an interview to correct an e-mail circulating over the Internet that all senior citizens have been exempted from the city’s number coding scheme.

Salgado said seniors living in other cities and passing through Makati could be off the hook but on a case-to-case basis.

In an interview, Salgado however reiterated the ban on vehicles on certain days, explaining the number coding scheme has been intended to decongest the busy streets of the city, especially the ones that crisscross the central business district.

“As much as possible, we want to be lenient to senior citizens passing through the city, but we strongly discourage them from driving around Makati when their vehicles are banned on the roads,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He said only the senior citizens officially residing in Makati City have been exempted from the number coding scheme, a policy dating back to the mayorship of now Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Seniors who were flagged down while driving should present their blue card to apprehending traffic officers, Salgado added.

Of all the cities in Metro Manila, Makati is among those that do not enforce the window hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Salgado reasoned that the city decided not to adopt window hours to free up the streets of Makati from traffic jams.

He said the number coding scheme has reduced vehicles passing along Makati roads by as much as 20 percent, enough for the streets to be decongested.

“Besides, traffic here in the city is quite unpredictable. If we opt to enforce window hours, traffic might get snarled during lunch time,” the city official said.

In the e-mail, a copy of which was obtained the Inquirer, the writer claims that all seniors are exempted from the city’s number coding. The writer, whose identity could not be established, also claims to have verified the information from City Hall by calling up its trunk line.