Asean convoy practice gets snarled up in Edsa traffic

A dry run for ceremonial and security convoys for the 31st Asean Summit got snarled up traffic, particularly on the southbound lane on Edsa, on Sunday.

Out of 20 convoys scheduled to take part in the dry run, only two were able to complete their routes from the Clark International Airport in Pampanga to hotels in Metro Manila.

At it happened, there was also an emergency road repair being done on Edsa near the corner Connecticut Street to address a recently discovered sinkhole in the area.

The second convoy, which Director Napoleon Taas, commander of the Asean Security Task Force, left Clark at 10:30 a.m., according to a statement issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

By 2 p.m., the decision to cut the rehearsal short was announced by the Asean Committee on Security, Peace and Order, Emergency Preparedness and Response, the lead government agency in the task.

But this apparently did not worry Taas, who said: “It was still a successful run overall since all our 20 convoys were able to rehearse the Clark and [North Luzon Expressway] leg of the ceremonial route. We still have three weeks to practice the Edsa leg of the route.”

The convoy dry run is the fourth conducted for the summit, which will held at the Clark Freeport Zone, and is part of security operations for the summit’s international delegates as they travel between Pampanga province and Metro Manila.

Incidentally, the DILG had issuedtraffic advisories for every dry run, warning of possible traffic chokepoints due to the rehearsals and advising the public to take alternate routes.

The dry run on Sunday was supposed to have “more vehicles and a much longer convoy” than the previous ones.

The last dry run, held Oct. 15, only covered three scenarios, as compared to the 20 scheduled on Sunday.

The convoys on Sunday were supposed to head to hotels in Manila, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City.

The fifth dry run is scheduled for Oct. 29, the DILG said. /atm