Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara has donated a total of 10 motorcycles to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in support of the agency’s soon-to-open Motorcycle Riding Academy.
Sen. Sonny Angara addresses Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) employees during the turnover ceremony of the 10 motorcycles he donated to the agency for its soon-to-open Motorcycle Riding Academy, on Friday, September 8. (Photo courtesy of O/S Angara)
Angara, together with acting MMDA Chairman Don Artes, signed a deed of donation and acceptance for the motorcycles, which was held at the agency’s newly-inaugurated Communications Command Center (CCC) in Pasig City, today, Friday, September 8.
The Motorcycle Riding Academy is a project of the MMDA that aims to provide free training to riders about proper and safe motorcycling. It is set to open on September 27, 2023.
Angara said he is optimistic that training riders to be safer, more responsible motorists and educated on traffic rules would help bring down the number of road accidents in the Philippines.
“Napakahalaga ito dahil nakita natin halos araw-araw mayroong aksidente dahil sa traffic so very timely itong inisiyatibo ng MMDA (This is very important because we have seen almost every day there are accidents due to traffic so this is a very timely initiative by the MMDA),” Angara said.
“Hopefully, over time makita natin na bumaba ang numbers ng mga insidenteng ganito. Hindi ito dahil sa kulang sa disiplina ang Pinoy kundi kulang sa kaalaman at yun ang pakay nitong programa-- ipakalap ang kaalalaman sa basic courtesies and road rules (Hopefully, over time we will see that the numbers of incidents like this decrease. This is not because Pinoys lack discipline but because they lack knowledge and that is the purpose of this program—to gather knowledge on basic courtesies and road rules,” he said.
In its latest report, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the Philippines 11th out of 175 countries in terms of the number of road traffic deaths.
The MMDA had also reported that almost 40 percent of road crash fatalities in the country involve motorcycle riders.
“Kapag tinitignan naming ang datos na ito ay lalong napapanatag ang aming loob na tama ang aming desisyon para tulungan ang MMDA (When we look at this data, we feel even more reassured that our decision to help the MMDA was right),” he said.
In 2020, the Senate Committee on Finance chief, also supported the MMDA by initiating the provision of a P176.4-million to the agency for the procurement of additional 50-seater air-conditioned ferry boats and for the preventive maintenance of its existing fleet and for improving accessibility at the ferry stations and intermodal transfers.
He also pushed for the inclusion of P300-million in the budget of the MMDA in 2021 for the purchase and installation of CCTV cameras around Metro Manila.
Last year, P672-million was provided to the MMDA for the installation of garbage traps at the Metro Manila waterways and for the construction of its CCC. Another P100-million was included in the budget of the agency this year for the expansion of their CCC.