By Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan
MANILA, Sept. 9 (PNA) – Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao, head of PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG), on Wednesday said that he will seek reinforcement from other PNP units to assign them to control of the traffic flow along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) .
”Meron pong ibang augmentation. Sa katunayan, kinausap ko ibang units. Itong ahensya ng PNP in particular na magbigay ng tao para magbigay sa HPG,” he said in a press briefing held in Camp Crame.
”In region, baka pwede magbigay kayo ng tao na pwedeng i-assign sa region para ipalit namin sa tao namin, salitan. So merong tumugon. Tumugon Region 3, 4-A, etc.
The HPG director also said that as added measure they were also eyeing of putting an additional shift to the HPG’s deployment along the 23-km Metro Manila’s major thoroughfare.
”Meron kasi kaming sistema little-by-little iadjust shifting nila. Eventually maging three shifts ito, hanggang dumami lalo tropa, maging four shifts,” he added.
The PNP-HPG at present time has a strength of 1,200 personnel spread in different parts of the country and 150 of them have been assigned to man the traffic situation on EDSA
Meanwhile, PNP-Special Action Force (SAF) Director, Police Director Moro Virgilio Lazo rallies behind Gunancao as he commits to deploy 20 SAF in EDSA.
”Gusto ko nga pasalamatan si Director Moro Lazo, SAF ang unang sumagot sa aking kahilingan na magbigay nga pwersa. so nagbigay siya ng 20 katao para iassign sa amin, itrain namin, tulong dito sa EDSA,” Gunnacao noted.
He added that other regional directors wants to pullout some of their men to increase personnel in EDSA.
Battling carjacking still remains the main thrust of the PNP-HPG and the police official believes that their new assignment at EDSA will help them in their campaign against carjackings.
For his part, Supt. Oliver S. Tanseco, spokesperson of the PNP’s Highway Patrol Group, said the PNP would measure their success in alleviating the traffic along the EDSA by the amount of time they shaved off in the travel times of motorists and commuters along the more than 23-kilometer freeway.
“The [Regional Highway Patrol Unit] conducted time trials on different times of the day at different days of the week on different modes of transport along EDSA on both directions. This is now our baseline and it will be used to determine the improvement of travel time,” Tanseco said in an interview.
While the baseline times were not yet immediately available as of press time, he said that they were preparing a compiled report which would be presented as soon as they finished it
On Monday, the PNP-HPG deployed more than 150 police officers along several chokepoints in EDSA in the latest attempt of the Philippine government to decongest the traffic which has become a daily crucible for motorists and commuters alike.
The traffic situation in the metropolis falls under the responsibility of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), but public clamor for more effective measures has prompted the authorities to tap highway cops to step in and help deal with the problem.
On the first Tuesday of the HPG’s deployment along EDSA, the capability of the HPG to manage traffic in one of the most problematic Metro Manila thoroughfares was tested when incessant rains caused heavy flooding at night, leading to hours-long traffic and hundreds of stranded commuters along the stretch of EDSA.
“Last night was really an expected thing in relation to other incidents that transpired or traffic situation before. We were expecting that come rainy season, it will flood. So what we did was made a request to the MMDA for a list of the areas that gets flooded when it rains but this request did not make it in time,” Gunnacao, director of the PNP-HPG, said during a press briefing in Camp Crame on Wednesday. (PNA)