Commuters’ group to gov’t: Treat malls on EDSA like you do bus terminals

A commuters' group on Friday urged authorities to reconsider the provincial bus ban along EDSA set to be fully implemented in June.

In an interview on GMA News TV's Balitanghali on Friday, Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection (LCSP) president Ariel Inton lamented the additional inconvenience that ordinary commuters would have to endure.

Citing data from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Inton said provincial buses comprised only six percent of traffic volume on EDSA.

"Ang tingin po namin diyan, mas concerned po kami sa everyday commuters na manggagaling sa probinsiya. Ang sabi ng MMDA, ang provincial bus amounts only to about 6 percent ng mga sasakyan diyan po sa EDSA. So maliit na percentage lang yan. And yet, ang halos ng lahat ng kanilang terminal, nasa EDSA," he said.

The group said provincial bus terminals on EDSA should not be blamed for causing traffic on the major thoroughfare.   

"'Yan ang sinasabi ng MMDA, na hindi designed ang EDSA para sa mga provincial bus terminal. Ang sagot namin siyan, hindi rin naman designed ang EDSA sa mga mall, and yet wala tayong naririnig sa kanila na ibawal ang mall," Inton said.

The LCSP president said malls were not getting the same kind of "treatment" as provincial bus terminals when it came to proposed solutions to improve traffic on EDSA.

"Maraming sumisisi sa terminal ng bus pero iilan lang ang nakakita dun sa mall. Kung gusto natin talagang pantay-pantay ang tingin para lumuwag ang EDSA, they also have to treat the way they treat the terminals yung mga mall," Inton said.

"Maraming sumisisi sa terminal ng bus. Just because itong mga mall ay pag-aari ng mga tycoon, hindi natin masabihan?" he added.

Under the measure, provincial buses coming from the south are expected to end their trips at a terminal in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and one in Parañaque, and those coming from north at a Valenzuela terminal.

Albay Representative Joey Salceda  on Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the ban, which was described in the petition as "utterly oppressive, unfair and violative of all the requisites of a valid exercise of police power."

AKO Bicol Party-list also asked the SC for a TRO on the same regulation last April, arguing it was approved without public consultation and without legal and scientific bases. —Margaret Claire Layug/NB, GMA News