Go take that vacation, and don’t add to the expected heavy traffic on Nov. 13, 14 and 15, a traffic management official urged the public barely two weeks before the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
Though the three-day Asean meet was earlier declared by Malacañang as nonworking holidays in Metro Manila, Bulacan and Pampanga, traffic was still expected to be heavy especially along Edsa, Emmanuel Miro, Asean traffic management commander, said on Friday.
Number coding scheme
Asean delegates were expected to take the Edsa route from Clark Airport to the summit venues in Manila and Pasay.
“(G)o on vacation so that traffic wouldn’t be as bad,” Miro advised the public, adding that he had also recommended to the Asean technical working group not to lift the number coding scheme being implemented by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
Avoid Edsa
Normally, the volume-reduction measure would be lifted during holidays, but Miro said the coming Christmas season would bring an increased number of vehicles on the road, so maintaining the coding scheme would help manage traffic during the summit.
Miro also advised motorists to avoid Edsa from Nov. 11 to 15 because apart from implementing a stop-and-go scheme, two of Edsa’s innermost lanes would be used exclusively by Asean delegates.
Special lanes
These lanes would be opened to motorists from time to time, Miro said, especially when meetings were already ongoing and when traffic builds up along the major thoroughfare.
During the three-day summit, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the North Luzon Expressway from Clark to Balintawak, and the stretch of Edsa from Balintawak to Magallanes, would be off-limits to trucks and closed vans for security reasons. These vehicles could instead use the MacArthur Highway and C5 Road to reach their destinations, Miro said.
Twenty-two world leaders were expected to arrive in Manila for the Asean summit and related meetings. Among those who have confirmed their attendance were US President Donald Trump, European Council President Donald Tusk, and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Gun ban
The Philippine National Police has enforced a gun ban in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and in the Southern Tagalog region for the duration of the summit.
In an order dated Oct. 27, PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa asked the directors of the three regions to suspend the permit to carry firearms outside of residence (PTCFOR) from Nov. 1 until Nov. 15. “to ensure the safety of the leaders of the Asean-member countries and other delegates.”
Mission orders
Only PNP personnel, soldiers and members of other law enforcement agencies who were on active duty and were carrying mission orders, would be allowed to carry firearms during the 15-day period, Dela Rosa said.
But the policemen, soldiers and members of other law enforcement agencies must be in proper uniform and must be ready to show their mission orders to be able to carry their government-issued firearms, Chief Supt. Valeriano de Leon, PNP Firearms and Explosives Office director, told reporters on Friday.
De Leon said the gun ban would be strictly implemented upon the arrival of the heads of state and other Asean summit delegates, and that no civilian had been exempted from the prohibition.
Police checkpoints
Police checkpoints would be set up and those found carrying guns without the proper documents would be charged with illegal possession of firearms, he added.
As for civilians with PTCFOR but who ignore the gun ban, the official said the “firearms license revocation and restoration board would investigate the violation and decide whether to revoke their license for carrying firearms within the period of prohibition.”
No-sail zone
“A warning is not being recognized in so far as this one is concerned,” De Leon said.
Also part of the summit’s security measures is the no-sail zone on Manila Bay for all kinds of vessels, from the vicinity waters of H2O Hotel in Manila to Okada Hotel in Parañaque City, from Nov. 5 to 16.
Department of the Interior and Local Government officer in charge Catalino Cuy, who chairs the committee on security, peace and order, emergency preparedness and response, said that the shoreline from H2O Hotel to the mouth of the Pasig River will be designated as a controlled zone where all vessels coming in and out of the shoreline will be escorted by coast guard patrol boats.
All Asean-accredited vessels will also be required to submit their passenger manifest to the Philippine Coast Guard three days before they dock, while passenger vehicles have to do so a day before docking or sailing, Cuy said.
“Maximum maritime security is part of our safety preparations to ensure that the short stay of our Asean delegates in our country will be as peaceful, safe and secure as possible,” he added.