President Marcos has ordered the temporary suspension of the EDSA rehabilitation to find a better way to implement the project without causing too much burden to commuters.

Marcos made the announcement during the launch of the Family Fare 1+3 promo for MRT-3 and LRT-2 on Sunday morning, June 1.

The President said the added burden the rehabilitation would cause to the commuters, especially the workers, prompted him to decide to suspend the rehabilitation.

"Meron pang isusunod na announcement dahil doon sa pinaplanong EDSA rehabilitation, ang daming mali, nag-aalala na papano yung trabaho namin, e kung ang pag-commute namin ay napakatagal na, madadagdagan pa ng isang oras, dalawang oras, wala na talaga, hindi na kami uuwi (There will be a follow-up announcement regarding the planned EDSA rehabilitation. There are so many issues, and people are already worried—what about our jobs? Our commute is already very long, and if it gets extended by another hour or two, that’s it—we won’t even go home anymore)," Marcos said.

Marcos also cited that they have identified new technologies that would potentially shorten the rehabilitation process, adding that the pause would give them time to study the said technologies.

"Kaya't tinitingnan po natin itong nangyari. Bukod pa doon meron tayong mga nakita na mga bagong teknolohiya na hindi natin ginamit doon sa pagplano sa EDSA rehabilitation (So we are taking a closer look at what happened. Aside from that, we have identified new technologies that were not used in the planning of the EDSA rehabilitation)," he said.  

"Kaya in-instruction-an ko si Secretary Vince Dizon at saka si Secretary Manny Bonoan ng DPWH, ay sinabi ko pause muna doon sa rehabilitation, huwag muna natin gawin, dahil tinitingnan natin yung cost-benefit analysis (That’s why I instructed Secretary Vince Dizon and Secretary Manny Bonoan of the DPWH—I told them to pause the rehabilitation for now, don’t proceed yet, because we’re reviewing the cost-benefit analysis)," he added.

Marcos admitted that many will be heavily affected by the proposed two-year rehabilitation project of Metro Manila's main thoroughfare. So, he was hoping to find a way to undertake the project in a shorter period.

He was even hoping to find a way to complete it within six month or a year.

"Maganda sana kung maayos natin ngunit ang laking sakrispisyo ng dalawang taon, masyado nang mabigat, mahigpit ang traffic. Kaya pause na muna iyan at sabi ko sa kanila, bigyan natin ang sarili natin ng isang buwan, pag-aralan natin itong mga bagong teknolohiya na nakikita natin (It would be great if we could fix things, but the two-year sacrifice is just too much; the traffic is already so heavy. So let’s pause that for now, and I told them to give ourselves a month to study these new technologies we’re seeing)," Marcos said.

"Pag-aralan natin, gawa tayo ng magandang plano baka naman imbes na dalawang taon, magawa natin ng anim na buwan, magawa natin sa isang taon. Whatever it is, tingnan natin kung anong available sa atin (Let’s study them, come up with a better plan—maybe instead of two years, we can finish it in six months, maybe in a year. Whatever it is, let’s see what’s available to us)," he added.

"Pero sa ngayon, maliwanag na maliwanag na napakarami ang mahihirapan pagka tinuloy natin yung EDSA rehabilitation. We will find another, in other words ang sinasabi ko, we will find a better way na hindi masyadong mahirap sa ating mga commuter (But for now, it’s very clear that so many people will suffer if we proceed with the EDSA rehabilitation as planned. We will find another— in other words, what I’m saying is, we will find a better way that won’t be as burdensome for our commuters)," he further said.

The EDSA rehabilitation project was slated to begin on June 13 and poised to be completed by 2027.