Police Sona tip for QC residents: stay at home

Stay at home to avoid getting caught in monstrous traffic today due to President Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address (Sona).

This was the advice of Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, National Capital Region Police Office director, to residents of Quezon City, particularly those living near Commonwealth Avenue.

“For sure, there [will be heavy] traffic. [It’ll be] monstrous traffic,” Eleazar said in an interview, adding: “It will be a huge headache.”

From bad to worse

Heavy traffic caused by the closure of parts of Commonwealth Avenue’s northbound lane, where antigovernment protesters will converge, will likely be further compounded by monsoon rains and construction work on the Metro Rail Transit 7 project.

Protesters are set to hold a program at St. Peter’s Church unlike previous Sonas where rallies were held on IBP Road which is closer to the House of Representatives.

Eleazar said at least 7,000 Metro policemen would be deployed to the area as he asked protesters to guard their ranks.

“We are lenient and considerate but we will be firm and tough,” he said as he warned that demonstrators would be dispersed if they moved outside areas where the police had allowed them to gather.

Alternate routes

Eleazar advised motorists to take alternate routes that had been identified by the Quezon City Police District which earlier announced that the stretch of the road’s northbound lane between Toyota Commonwealth and Sandiganbayan U-turn slot would be closed as early as Sunday midnight.

By noon today, IBP Road’s entire westbound lane from Litex to Sandiganbayan will be closed as well. Motorists coming from Filinvest 1, Sinagtala, San Mateo Road and Filinvest 2 headed toward Fairview could take IBP Road’s eastbound lane and exit to Litex.

Commonwealth Avenue’s southbound lane will be further split to create a lane for northbound vehicles.