At least 60 members of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group were deployed to help enforcers man and control traffic in the seven identified major chokepoints along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue to address road congestion during the Christmas season.
Thomas Orbos, general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority and concurrent chief of the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (i-ACT), said the HPG personnel were already in position at the major choke points—Balintawak Market Road, Aurora Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe, Ayala Avenue and Taft Avenue.
Orbos said the return of the HPG to the 23.8-kilometer highway aims to improve traffic management on Edsa in time for the holidays.
HPG officers at each choke point would be assisted by two non-police officers to augment police visibility in the area. They would have motorcycles and patrol cars to chase and apprehend erring motorists and to conduct a roving check of the traffic situation, Orbos said.
The police vowed to make sure that no extortion activity will happen on Edsa.
The government came up with the holiday traffic program for the peak “-ber” months—the months of September, October, November and December—when road congestion is a common sight, especially along Edsa where more than 16 shopping malls are situated.
"Finding viable measures to address the traffic problem is a continuous process and may entail drastic changes and deviation from the present norms," said Orbos.
Authorities would target the critical areas during busy periods, including bus stops and no-stopping zones, which are notorious for illegal parking, picking up, and dropping of passengers and goods.
The MMDA will also intensify its crackdown on illegal vendors, illegal transport terminals and sidewalk stalls without permits.
The agency observed that loading and unloading of bus passengers at non-designated areas and the wanton disregard of public and private motorists of traffic rules are the reasons why there is road congestion.
The government and mall operators also agreed to adjust shopping centers' opening and closing hours from the usual 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
To date, MMDA has just 2,368 traffic enforcers doing three shifts. These personnel are spread along the 197 kilometers of major roads and thoroughfares in Metro Manila.
MMDA traffic engineering center chief Noemi Recio said the ideal number of people to control and manage the traffic flow in the National Capital Region is 7,000.
She said Edsa alone needs at least 1,000 traffic personnel to be assigned at the major choke points.
"We need more people to manage these choke points. We need at least 1,000 men along Edsa, that's the ideal," Recio said.
Last year, the HPG leadership turned over to the MMDA the full control and management of traffic on Edsa.
The HPG then focused in handling the traffic management and control on two other major roads in the metropolis—the Commonwealth Avenue and the Circumferential Road-5 (C-5 Road).
The HPG took over traffic control on Edsa from the MMDA in September 2015 following the directive of then President Benigno Aquino III, who believed that the presence of armed traffic enforcers would make a big difference.