Metro Briefs: MMDA chief lobbies Congress for traffic aides’ hazard pay

Danilo Lim

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is asking Congress to pass a law providing a monthly hazard pay of P6,000 to its traffic constables. According to MMDA chair Danilo Lim, the additional incentive will not only raise their take-home pay but also curb corruption among their ranks. Lim told reporters on Monday that he raised the matter in a recent meeting with House members. At present, an entry level traffic enforcer gets close to P11,000 a month but takes home just around P6,000, Lim said. “How can you motivate people if their stomachs are grumbling?” he asked. In 2013, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo proposed a hazard pay and accident insurance coverage for the agency’s traffic enforcers. The following year, then Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and former Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez also filed a bill seeking to give MMDA traffic men and street sweepers a P2,000 hazard pay. Both bills, however, languished in the House of Representatives. —Jovic Yee

Rising soon: Colegio de Muntinlupa

The local government of Muntinlupa on Monday started the construction of a four-story school building for Colegio de Muntinlupa (CDM) on a 16,000-sqm lot on Posadas Avenue, Barangay Sucat. City public information officer Tez Navarro said the CDM, which will cost an estimated P100 million to build, will initially offer five engineering programs: BS Civil Engineering, BS Computer Engineering, BS Electrical Engineering, BS Electronics Engineering and BS Mechanical Engineering. Residents who will qualify for CDM programs may receive subsidies through the local government’s scholarship program. Non-Muntinlupa residents, meanwhile, will be paying full tuition estimated around P28,000 per semester. The new school will initially accept at least 300 enrollees when it opens in 2018, Navarro said. —Dexter Cabalza