SMC apologizes for heavy traffic at SLEx during Muntinlupa fire

San Miguel Corp., the parent company of SLEx (South Luzon Expressway) operator South Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC), apologized on Wednesday afternoon to motorists due to a fire that struck a community of informal settlers in Muntinlupa which caused heavy flow of traffic.

The fire caused a tower of the National Power Corp. (NPC) to lean towards the Alabang flyover.

“We apologize to our motorists for the inconvenience caused by a residential fire near the Alabang northbound exit plaza of the South Luzon Expressway,” SMC said in a statement.

The blaze, which started at 8:48 a.m., burned houses in a 400-square-meter lot occupied by about 80 families near the northbound Alabang toll gate of SLEx.

READ: Alabang fire fells Napocor tower, temporarily closes SLEx

SMC said it closed both the northbound and southbound Alabang viaduct at around 9:10 a.m. to ensure the safety of motorists. All lanes were reopened by 9:52 a.m.

The fire was put out at 10:11 a.m.

“We continue to work to ease the traffic buildup caused by this incident and have deployed additional personnel and traffic enforcers on site,” SMC said.

“We will continue to update the public on the status of clearing operations,” it added. /atm