Back to school for traffic enforcers

It’s back to school for the traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority as part of their re-education program.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando admitted that several of the MMDA’s enforcers are still not fully educated on the rules of apprehension and traffic management as many of them were former Metro Aides.

The traffic academy would also be made available to bus drivers and conductors as some of the courses would be on basic traffic rules and regulations as well as driving etiquette.

Bus drivers have long been criticized for their lack of discipline particularly along EDSA while loading and unloading passengers.

Fernando said that the "traffic academy" would be created and developed inside the new office of the MMDA in Pasig City.

The MMDA is set to transfer to the 14-hectare property of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) located at Barangay Ugong, Pasig City early next year. The property was previously used as a meat processing plant and was also a sequestered asset of the national government.

Fernando said the new offices would integrate all of the MMDA’s operations from towing to license redemption into one central headquarters.

All of the properties of the MMDA would eventually be sold including the impounding areas at the University of Life Training and Recreation Arena (ULTRA), Pasig City and the present offices of Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City.

In other developments, Fernando asked the jeepney drivers operators’ associations in Metro Manila to provide the MMDA a list of areas where they want to set-up their stations and terminals.

He said that the representatives of the MMDA would review the lists of the jeepney operators and evaluate whether or not the areas are viable for setting up terminals.

If the sites are deemed viable then the MMDA would help secure these for the terminals of the public utility jeepneys.

"This just goes to show that the jeepney drivers also have equal rights on the road as private motorists and pedestrians," Fernando said. – Marvin Sy