The city of Manila on Monday deployed 252 women, all mothers, as traffic enforcers in public elementary schools where their children are studying after completing extensive training in traffic management.
Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada swore in the “mommy enforcers,” the first batch of auxiliary traffic personnel trained under the city government’s “Motherly Traffic Attendants” program.
“With their motherly love, our children will be safe in school. We know they’re in good hands. I am confident they will perform their duties well, being mothers themselves,” Estrada said during their oathtaking last week.
Estrada said he sees the mothers of Manila as partners of the city government in addressing the most pressing issues in the city, particularly traffic congestion and corruption.
Last November, Estrada fired all 690 traffic enforcers—all men—of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau after receiving numerous complaints of extortion and other illegal activities.
Of the 690, only 82 men have been rehired after successfully completing an extensive retraining course ordered by Estrada.
“We have high expectations from every one of you,” Estrada told the mommy enforcers. “You all know that you have been recruited because our MTPB enforcers have been involved in anomalies. I trust you will help us regain the reputation of MTPB.”
MTPB chief Dennis Alcoreza said the mommy enforcers will be assigned to 72 public elementary schools in the city to help direct traffic and assist schoolchildren in crossing the street or taking a ride.
“We are hoping to field one mommy traffic enforcer for every 1,000 schoolchildren, and so far, we have covered all 72 public elementary schools,” Alcoreza said. Manila has about 250,000 grade schoolers.
“They will be assigned in the school where they have a child or children studying. In that way, they will work even harder,” he said.
With the supervision of an MTPB sector commander, the women enforcers will work in shifts of their own choosing – from 6 am to 9 am, 11 am to 2 pm, or from 12 noon to 6 pm —– from Monday to Friday.
Alcoreza said each mommy enforcer will receive an initial monthly allowance of P6,000 to help in their day-to-day household expenses. They were also issued uniforms, including reflectorized vests for their safety.
The MTPB chief pointed out that Estrada formed the women’s corps of traffic enforcers specifically to be deployed outside the elementary school campuses with only one primary mission: to help the school children cross the street and get to school or their home safely.
He said the deployment of mommy traffic enforcers would be a big help now that the MTPB is currently being reorganized.
“Depending on how big the school is, we will be deploying a minimum of two mommy traffic enforcers per school. And they should be residents of the same barangay where the school is located, and preferably have children in the school they will be assigned to,” Alcoreza added.
According to the Safe Kids Worldwide, road accidents are the number one cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 19.
Alcoreza also cited a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that said 186,000 children below 18 years old die each year due to road crash, 38 percent of whom were pedestrians.
In the Philippines, 96 children die every day due to road accidents, making it the second most common type of accident in the country for children aged 5 years to 12 years, according to WHO.