MMDA, mayors oppose Manila truck ban

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Metro Manila Council (MMC), which is composed of all the mayors of Metro Manila, will try their best to convince Manila to do away with its daytime truck ban.

At a forum in Manila yesterday, the MMDA conferred with various truckers’ groups, whose officials said the daytime ban would affect the economy and contribute to the worsening of traffic flow in the cities adjacent to Manila.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino and the MMC aired their opposition to the truck ban in the light of road projects that are lined up for this year: the Skyway Stage 3, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport elevated expressway, the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge in Manila, Makati Avenue underpass, and the Pasay-Taft flyover. These projects, which are expected to cause traffic jams, are supposed to be completed by 2016.

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada earlier announced that the city’s council passed Ordinance 7570, which bans eight-wheeler trucks from traveling the city’s streets from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. The ban is supposed to take effect on Feb. 24.

Vice Mayor Isko Moreno said trucks carrying perishable goods and aviation fuel will be exempt from the truck ban. Estrada and Moreno did not attend yesterday’s forum.

Tolentino said the two-day traffic summit, which will start tomorrow, would be crucial in helping solve the impending traffic problem created by Manila’s truck ban.

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, meanwhile, slammed the Manila city government for passing the truck ban.

“We are waiting for the summit because, once and for all, we should not have a parochial mindset when setting policies. We have to look at the effect on the entire Metro Manila,” he said.

Bautista said the MMC, during the traffic summit, could draw up an ordinance that could modify Manila’s daytime truck ban.

Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman said all Metro Manila’s mayors “should come up with a compromise that is acceptable to all sectors.”