MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be deploying its personnel along the stretch of Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) and other major thoroughfares in Metro Manila in preparation for the planned transport strike by bus operators this Monday, November 15. Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, director of the PNP-Highway Patrol Group (HPG), said the move is to ensure public safety and maintain peace and order in case of any eventuality that may stem from the decision of bus operators not to ply their routes on Monday in protest of the Metro Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) to implement number-coding scheme.
“We will be deploying our personnel as early as Sunday so that we will be prepared if the transport strike pushes through on Monday,” said Espina.
On Saturday, officials from the MMDA, PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) met to discuss the security measures and cushion the impact of the transport strike.
Espina said among the tasks assigned to the HPG and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) is to deploy cycle teams on EDSA and other vital areas in Metro Manila to assist the MMDA on traffic direction and control, apprehension of traffic violators and monitoring of traffic conditions.
“The PNP was also assigned to apprehend colorum buses, errant drivers of public utility vehicles, and the like,” said Espina.
Quoting excerpts of the meeting, Espina said police commanders from Luzon were also directed to conduct massive information drive on bus owners and drivers regarding the implementation of the bus-coding scheme on Monday.
“Our regional directors from Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and other regions will be advising owners and drivers of public utility buses plying the Metro Manila route of the coding scheme starting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” said Espina.
“On the part of the HPG, we will be setting up command monitoring posts to appraise us if the situation in the Metro Manila for us to respond properly,” he added.
But Espina said the peace and order duty of the PNP will not be compromised by focusing on security measures for the Monday’s expected transport strike.
In fact, he said that several mobile teams will be posted along C-5 Road and other crime-prone areas in Metro Manila to counter carnapping, hijacking, and highway robberies.
Aaron Recuenco, Manila Bulletin
