The Asean Security Task Force decided to cut short its convoy dry run on Sunday due to heavy traffic along Edsa near Connecticut.
ASTF Commander Police Dir. Nap Taas, riding in the second convoy that left Clark International Airport at 10:30 am, encountered the tail end of the traffic at the corner of Edsa and Quezon Avenue.
Edsa was reduced to just two lanes due to a road repair due to a recently discovered sink hole near Connecticut.
According to Taas, only two of their convoys were able to complete the rehearsal from Clark to the designated hotels.
“It was still a successful run overall since all our 20 convoys were able to rehearse the Clark and the North Luzon Expressway leg of the ceremonial route. We still have three weeks to practice the Edsa leg of the route,” he said.
Yesterday’s dry run is the fourth one conducted by the ASTF through the Technical Working Group on Traffic Management for the upcoming 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit this November.
Meanwhile, the family of a Bulacan cop who was run over and killed by a van while performing Asean traffic duty stands to receive more than P1.6 million in financial and housing assistance, including insurance and other benefits from the Office of the President and other agencies of the government,
Interior officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy says the family of the late PO1 Mark Mendoza will get a special financial assistance amounting to P500,000 from the Office of the President; shelter assistance of P450,000 from the National Housing Authority; and a yearly educational stipend from kindergarten to college for two dependents from the Philippine National Police.
An insurance benefit totalling P700,000 will also be received by Mendoza’s legal beneficiaries from the Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Inc.
Cuy, who personally visited the wake of Mendoza to condole with the family, also handed over to the victim’s wife, Honesty Mendoza, special financial assistance amounting to P152,000 from the PNP.
Mendoza was hit and killed by a van while rendering route security and traffic assistance along NLEX during an Asean briefing in Pampanga on October 16.
“However you put it, the family lost a father in PO1 Mendoza, and the least that we can do is honor him and make certain that they will receive the aid and financial backing that they deserve,” Cuy said.