800 back to being Metro Aides

A total of 800 of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s traffic enforcers are set to be returned to their mother unit, the Environmental Sanitation Center (ESC).

MMDA Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. reported that he recently discovered that the majority of 2,100 traffic enforcers the MMDA has in the field do not carry Traffic Violation Receipts (TVRs).

Out of the total, only 800 are authorized to carry and hand out the TVRs or "tickets" issued to individuals involved in traffic violations.

Most of the 800 traffic enforcers with TVRs were recruited during the time of MMDA Chairman Prospero Oreta as the "highly-trained, new blood" in the traffic enforcement force.

Abalos also noted that not all of the Philippine National Police-Traffic Enforcement Group and Traffic Management Group are authorized to carry citation tickets.

In order to immediately improve the efficiency of the traffic enforcers, Abalos said that he will reassign 800 of the traffic enforcers back to the ESC where they came from.

The ESC is the unit of the MMDA where the Metro Aides or street sweepers are assigned.

A total of 2,100 Metro Aides are also currently employed in the ESC, many of whom are either near or past the age of retirement.

The present total is already considerably low after a significant number was retired by former Chairman Jejomar Binay before the end of his term. – Marvin Sy