MMDA orders MRT-3 builders to clear EDSA

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday ordered contractors of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) to rush the construction of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 extension and clear the highway of obstructions by Dec. 19.

MMDA Chairman Oscar Inocentes said the ongoing construction along EDSA of the MRT-3 extension, particularly from Roosevelt to Balintawak, has been drawing complaints from motorists every morning.

“This has to be corrected. The LRTA contractors must finish their jobs on time because if not we will have to do our job. Let’s be clear on this, I don’t want anybody to go against our people, or I will use iron hand,” Inocentes said.

The MMDA has observed that vehicular traffic along EDSA has become heavier with the coming of the holiday season.

Inocentes said he has been informed that heavy equipment such as trucks and concrete mixers are blocking the flow of vehicular traffic at the construction areas.

Aside from the heavy equipment, Inocentes also ordered the removal of steel posts and concrete barriers on or before 6 a.m. on Dec. 19 to ease traffic along EDSA.

“By 5 a.m., they should start clearing the lanes of EDSA of all heavy equipment and debris so that by 6 a.m., EDSA will be cleared of obstruction for the clear passage of the motorists,” Inocentes said.

MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno said he has given the LRTA contractors, sub-contractors and consultants until 6 a.m. on Dec. 19 to remove their equipment from EDSA, or the MMDA will be forced to remove them.

“We will put a tow truck on standby just in case the LRTA contractors fail to deliver on their promise to remove their equipment before 6 a.m.,” he said.

Nacianceno said part of the agreement between the MMDA and the MRTA contractors includes the temporary removal of the loading bay at EDSA-Roosevelt to give way to the MRT construction.

The loading bay will be immediately restored at the expense of the LRTA contractors, he said.

NGOs want ‘pro-poor’ MMDA chief

Several non-government organizations (NGOs) helping the urban poor sector expressed optimism that the new chairman of the MMDA will be pro-poor.

This was the sentiment shared by members of the the Task Force Anti-Eviction being composed of various people’s organizations such as the Urban Poor Associates (UPA), Community Organizers Multiversity (COM), and Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE) Foundation.

UPA executive director Denis Murphy said they are happy that Inocentes is “committed to doing everything legally and through dialogues.”

He alleged that former MMDA chief Bayani Fernando, who is running for vice president, illegally evicted thousands of families over the last three years “without proper notice, consultation and resettlement.”

Murphy said Fernando allegedly “often removed small vendors from the road or sidewalks and confiscated or destroyed their goods. If the new chair dialogues in a sincere way, he will find solutions that allows the poor to survive in the city and make a living.”

The UPA is a group helping victims of demolition all over Metro Manila including displaced families from the southern metropolis. The UPA research team claimed that this year alone there were 28 evictions, six of these evictions were conducted by the MMDA and ended up violent.

“There is room for the vendors on our sidewalks if MMDA will sincerely try to reach a solution with them. The new chairperson’s moratorium for vendors on the sidewalks and informal settlers this December gives them hope,” Murphy said.   – With Rhodina Villanueva