Driver-only ban sa EDSA igitil

NANAWAGAN ang Senate leaders nitong Miyerkoles sa Metro­politan Manila Develop­ment Authority (MMDA) na ipatigil ang bagong patakaran na nagbaba­wal sa driver-only vehicles sa EDSA habang rush hour.

Ginawa ng mga mam­b­abatas ang panawagan sa unang araw ng dry run ng High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) traffic scheme sa pangunahing kalsada.

Sa ilalim ng Senate Resolution No. 845, sinabi ng Senate leaders, ang nasabing polisiya na naglalayong mabawasan ang bilang ng mga sasak­yan sa kahabaan ng EDSA habang rush hour “was set in place without public consultation and due process.”

Ang resolusyon ay iniakda nina Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, at Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

“The implementation of a regulation that would allegedly affect 70 per­cent of the motor vehicles plying and enjoying the use of the Philippines’ major thoroughfare without holding a prior public consultation or hearing is violative of the due process of laws enshrined and protected under the Constitution,” saad sa resolusyon.

Tinagurian ng mga mambabatas ang ideya ng MMDA bilang “band-aid solution” at “piecemeal measure” na higit anilang makasasama kaysa maka­buti.

“We are shooing cars away from the main artery to minor roads not wide enough to handle the surge in volume,” ayon kay Recto.

“[It] could even worsen traffic congestion as it could encourage the proliferation of un­authorized ‘for-hire’ vehicles or colorum, as shown by the recently scrapped Indonesian model,” sinabi ni  Drilon, tinukoy ang napaulat na pagpapatigil ng Indo­nesia sa HOV policy.