MMDA wants hazard pay for it’s ‘a war’ out there

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) wants its traffic enforcers to be given hazard pay, saying what they go through daily may be likened to fighting a war.

MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos said on Tuesday that he and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade were thinking of ways to reward the efforts of their men who risk life and limb to manage traffic on Edsa in exchange for a meager salary.

“We’re looking at how we can give them hazard pay. Though they are not soldiers, what they go through every day is nothing short of a war. I tried manning traffic and it’s really difficult,” Orbos said during the sendoff ceremony for around 800 traffic enforcers who are now part of the Interagency Committee on Traffic Management.

Currently, an entry level traffic enforcer gets close to just P11,000 monthly. Without going into specifics, Orbos said they would also “request” a salary hike for traffic enforcers.

In 2013, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo proposed giving the over 1,800 MMDA traffic enforcers hazard pay and accident insurance coverage. The following year, then Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez also filed a bill giving enforcers and street sweepers a P2,000 hazard pay. Both bills, however, were not approved.

For now, Orbos said they would provide their enforcers with rain gear for protection against bad weather.