Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Highway Patrol Group’s traffic management scheme started on Monday (September 7), and its performance, according to Malacañan, was “generally satisfatory.”
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma admitted that the scheme still needs finetuning, but he also noted an improvement in the traffic flow on EDSA, which he attributed to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) clearing operations the previous week.
Related: HPG takes over management of EDSA traffic
“Kasalukuyan ginagawa ang fine tuning ng implementation ng traffic management upang mapahusay [ang] daloy ng sasakyan sa EDSA,” Coloma said. He also called out to the public to provide feedback to help improve the scheme.
The HPG, a unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP), was assigned to be the new lead traffic enforcer on EDSA to help clear road congestion on the thoroughfare’s six major chokepoints — Taft Avenue, Guadalupe, Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas, Cubao, and Balintawak.
A total of 150 HPG personnel were deployed on Monday.
Before 1995, it was the HPG, then called the Traffic Management Group (TMG), which was tasked to manage traffic on EDSA. The role was transferred to the MMDA after that to avoid the duplication in roles.
Interagency team vs. traffic congestion
Coloma also said that Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras has been tasked to combine the efforts of various agencies to solve the problem of traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
An inter-agency team was assembled composed of the MMDA, PNP, Department of the Interior and Local Governance (DILG), local government units (LGUs), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Earlier, some businessmen asked President Benigno Aquino III to appoint Almendras as traffic czar to address all traffic and transport concerns.
Related: Businessmen to Aquino: Appoint traffic czar
