Duterte upbeat on daylight saving time —MMDA chief

President Rodrigo Duterte has shown a positive response to the proposal of implementing daylight saving time (DST), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Romando Artes said Wednesday.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, Artes said that the President on Tuesday directed him to discuss the proposal with concerned agencies and stakeholders for immediate implementation of DST.

“Maganda naman po ang kanyang response dahil inatasan niya po ako na i-discuss na po ito sa agencies and stakeholders concerned para ma-implement daw po kaagad at mabawasan ang daloy ng traffic. 'Yan po yung marching orders na na-receive ko...,” he said.

(President Duterte’s response was positive as he instructed me to start discussions with agencies and stakeholders to implement the proposal immediately to reduce the traffic congestion. That’s the marching order I received.)

Artes said he will present the proposal to the Civil Service Commission next week. He pointed out that the CSC should be the one to issue the directive on daylight saving time.

Under the proposal, the work in the government will be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, Artes said the MMDA will also meet with the Department of Labor and Employment to discuss the proposals for a 4-day work week with 10 hours duty per day and five days of work with eight hours of duty per day with work-from-arrangement on the fifth day.

Based on MMDA data, the daily volume of vehicles along EDSA before the COVID-19 pandemic was at 405,000. Before the series of bigtime oil price increases it was at 390,000. It went down to 370,000 amid rising price of fuel. —LBG, GMA News