Responding to natural disasters, creating schemes to improve traffic in the metropolis, and working hand-in-hand with other government agencies in addressing the global pandemic have made the Metropolitan Manila Development Agency (MMDA) busy throughout this pandemic year.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, MMDA General Manager Jose Arturo Garcia said that they have shifted most of their focus in addressing the pressing matter while still performing the main task of the agency.
“Our plan for next year is probably inclined with addressing the global health pandemic. Of course, MMDA will still perform its task of regulating traffic in Metro Manila. But with this lingering pandemic, MMDA will have more programs aimed at helping stem the coronavirus transmission,” he said.
Natural disaster response
In January, MMDA deployed 30 of its personnel to Talisay, Batangas to help residents affected by the eruption of the Taal Volcano, after the Batangas provincial government sought the assistance of the MMDA.
MMDA spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Celine Pialago, said they dispatched three military trucks, three ambulances, two fire trucks, 10 portable water purifiers, self-contained breathing apparatus, compressors, and re-filler. The agency transported 17, 000 respiratory masks to two evacuation centers in Batangas.
In partnership with MMDA, the PHAPCares Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), donated over 16, 500 respiratory masks in evacuation centers in Sto. Tomas and Padre Garcia. It also donated medicines for respiratory illnesses and drinking water.
In November, MMDA assisted Marikina City which was badly ravaged by typhoon “Ulysses” in its rescue and rehabilitation efforts.
Before the typhoon hit, the MMDA sent around 700 personnel to various parts of the metropolis to help in storm-related operations in flooded areas. They were dispatched personnel to Pasig City, Marikina, Manila, and Quezon City.
Following the devastation of Ulysses, the MMDA dispatched a composite team to aid the city government in its rehabilitation of typhoon-affected areas in Marikina.
MMDA Chairman Danilo “Danny” Lim ordered the personnel of the Metro Parkways Clearing Group, Road Emergency Group, and Public Safety Division to assist the city government of Marikina in its ongoing clearing and rehabilitation efforts. The agency deployed dump trucks, self-loaders, back hoes, and other heavy equipment needed in their clearing operations in Marikina.
Traffic-related programs, schemes
In the beginning of 2020, the MMDA provided month-long free Pasig River Ferry Service (PRFS) rides to the public. Lim said this was done to entice the public to support the ferry service as an alternative mode of transportation to commuters.
The agency apprehended 78 “habal-habal” drivers a span of eight days as the agency intensified its crackdown on these vehicles in the metropolis in February. Data obtained by the Manila Bulletin said a total of 78 motorcycle drivers were nabbed from Feb. 14 to 21.
In March, the MMDA recommended to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to ban 2,500 drivers of Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) with multiple apprehensions that the agency monitored in February.
MMDA General Manager Arturo Garcia Jr. said that erring motorists with alarming number of traffic violations should be banned from driving as they pose peril to commuters.
The agency said of the 12,000 traffic violators in February, 2,500 are city bus drivers.
“We want the riding public to be out of danger and prohibiting habitual traffic offenders is one step to avoid road accidents,” Garcia said.
On March 4, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was entered into by the MMDA and the city government of Pasig led by Mayor Vico Sotto to make the donation of two 57-seat ferry boats official.
MMDA said the two ferry boats donated by the Pasig LGU – M/B Mutya ng Pasig 1 and 2 – are equipped with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and have overhead electric fans for ventilation and a toilet.
In April, MMDA was criticized by netizens for giving a citation ticket to a motorcycle rider transporting a nurse serving amid the pandemic. In defense, the MMDA said that their enforcers are just strictly implementing the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
In the viral Facebook post of Michael Villanueva, he detailed how he was flagged down by MMDA traffic enforcers because he was travelling with his sister-in-law who is a nurse.
The agency was also in hot water in May after Garcia said that even frontliners are not exempted from the Modified Number Coding Scheme that the MMDA will implement on June 1. Garcia said the modified scheme requires two or more people aboard a vehicle in order for the driver not to be fined.
But after receiving backlash from frontliners, especially from the medical community, the MMDA said they will give medical frontliners the privilege to use their coded-vehicles without being apprehended when the modified number coding scheme is imposed in the National Capital Region (NCR) on June 1.
Under the modified scheme, coded-vehicles are allowed to travel on major roads subject to condition that vehicles carry at least one passenger to maximize the use of the vehicle.
In September, MMDA EDSA Traffic chief Bong Nebrija said the entire stretch of the Forbes Park perimeter wall must be fixed immediately as it poses danger to the general public if it collapses.
A portion of the perimeter wall suddenly collapsed, and its debris fell on EDSA, and were cleaned by MMDA men.
"We have called their attention regarding the wall years ago," he said in dismay. "It is their responsibility once a person gets injured," he added. "It is their civil obligation to fix the wall so that nobody gets harmed."
During the lockdown, the EDSA Carousel project was implemented. It is a project of the Department of Transportation (DoTr), which moved the bus lanes to the innermost lanes. It is protected by concrete barriers and metal bollards, making it exclusive for the use of city buses.
This seeks to give city bus commuters faster travel time, or at least a reduction of 20 minutes in travel time from the two points of EDSA.
Due to the new bus way, the 13 U-turn slots on EDSA were gradually closed and other bus stops will be built. All in all, MMDA said, there would be 32 bus stops located at the inner lane.
MMDA said the travel time of both commuters and private vehicle motorists will be cut by 20 minutes once all the U-turn slots on EDSA are closed.
COVID-19 pandemic
On Feb. 3, the agency allayed the fears of the public following the first death due to COVID-19 in the country. Garcia assured the public that the government, specifically the Department of Health (DoH), is on top of the situation.
On March 10, the Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of the 17 Metro Manila mayors, conducted a meeting on the contingency measures that local governments in the capital region will undertake for COVID-19. MMC is the policy-making body of the MMDA.
The following day, the MMDA said that standard parameters on social distancing measures will be created by Technical Working Group (TWG) formed by the MMDA, MMC, and other concern agencies to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Lim said the uniform policies, in the form of a resolution, will be used as basis for 17 Metro Manila local government units (LGUs) as one region in ensuring the health and safety of the public from COVID-19.
On March 13, following the announcement of President Duterte of a community quarantine, MMDA indefinitely suspended the number coding scheme for private and public vehicles.
"Number coding (Private and Public vehicles) is now lifted starting this hour until further notice," said Pialago.
The MMC announced the next day that it will impose a 30-day curfew in the metropolis starting March 15 from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to prevent the public from going outside their homes and be at risk of getting the dreaded disease.
On March 28, Garcia announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. Pialago, who was also quarantined after being exposed to a COVID-19 patient, said that she tested negative for the disease on April 3 after getting her swab test result.
To stop the spread of COVID-19, the MMDA has put up decontamination tents at several public hospitals and government offices in the metropolis on April 6.
On April 20, Garcia once again tested positive for COVID-19.
This month, the MMDA chairman was infected with the dreaded disease despite his precautions and strict implementation of health protocols, prompting him to say that the virus is infectious and the public must take extra precaution.