Palace to commuters: Be patient, MMDA is doing its ‘level best’

MANILA, Philippines—As traffic along Edsa worsens despite the imposition of a traffic scheme aimed at easing road congestion, Malacañang called on commuters to “be patient”, assuring them that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is doing its “level best.”

In a Palace briefing Thursday, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo admitted that he himself had been stuck in traffic along Edsa. However, he said the rainy season could have contributed to aggravating traffic congestion along one of Metro Manila’s main thoroughfares.

“I agree on the traffic situation. It took me two hours from one place in Makati going to a celebration in the Singapore embassy,” Panelo said.

“But I think the rainy season has contributed to the density of traffic. MMDA is doing its level best to do something about it,” he added.

The MMDA has ordered the dry run of Yellow Lane Policy, which instructs bus drivers to only use the two outermost Edsa lanes to ease congestion, however, buses were seen hardly moving in Edsa on Wednesday, much to the disappointment of thousands of commuters.

READ: Dry run of Edsa bus ban ‘not successful’

However, Panelo appealed for patience, saying that the “MMDA is doing enough.”

He also suggested building more skyways along Edsa to help decongest the circumferential highway around Metro Manila.

“We need to ask the commuters to be patient, I’m sure the MMDA is doing enough. But actually, you know the problem in Edsa is we need skyways for that. If you have a lot of Skyways I don’t think there will be traffic. We need infrastructure,” he said. /je