SCREENGRAB from Senators Loren Legarda’s and Chiz Escudero’s Twitter accounts.
Two senators took to social media on Tuesday night to lament the heavy traffic in the metropolis and the absence of traffic enforcers during the long hours that commuters were trapped in the traffic.
“Stuck in two hour traffic from Pasay to Makati with no cop on sight, HPG or otherwise, no MMDA,” Senator Loren Legarda said on her Twitter post, referring to Highway Patrol Group and Metro Manila Development Authority.
“Police enforcers’ presence is so important especially during downpours like this,” she said.
Legarda said commuters were at the middle of the road because the roads were flooded on the sides.
“Did the LGUs (local government units), MMDA, DPWH (Department of Pubic Works and Highways) clean the drainage? May daluyan ba ang tubig ulan? (Does the rainwater have drainage?)” she asked.
“Heavy downpours can be anticipated so traffic enforcers must be pre-deployed hours before to manage the traffic mess,” the senator added.
Free buses for stranded commuters, she said, should be made available during these times.
Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance, then proposed that there should be a provision in the next year’s budget for free rides to cater to the stranded commuters.
The budget for free rides, she said, could be sourced from the P6.5-billion unspent budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero was also among those trapped in the traffic along Edsa.
“Been stuck in traffic (complete standstill) along EDSA in front of Megamall (northbound) for the past 30 mins…” Escudero wrote on his Twitter Tuesday night.
He said his ordeal on Edsa lasted for three hours just to get to Corinthians in Quezon City from Makati.
“Na traffic din ako ng tatlong oras kagabi. Halos isang oras kaming nakatigil sa tapat ng Megamall, northbound ng Edsa,” Escudero told reporters on Wednesday.
(I was also stuck in the traffic for three hours. We’re stuck for almost an hour in front of Megamall, northbound of Edsa.)
Like Legarda, Escudero also blamed the clogged drainage and absence of traffic enforcers that compounded the long problem on traffic in the Metro Manila.
“Sa loob ng isang oras, wala akong nakita na maski na isang unipermado na MMDA or HPG sa aming kinalalagyan sa panahong yun,” he added.
(With one hour, I saw not a single MMDA or HPG personnel in a uniform where we were at that time.) Maila Ager/RAM
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