MMDA to deploy 1,354 personnel for SONA 2023 traffic assistance

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday said it will deploy 1,354 personnel for the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, July 24 at Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

MMDA Acting Chairman Atty. Don Artes said the personnel will manage both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, assist in emergency response, and conduct road and sidewalk clearing operations.

The MMDA personnel will also assist in crowd control, do traffic monitoring, and assist the Task Force SONA 2023, Philippine National Police, Quezon City Police District, Presidential Security Group, and Quezon City government in ensuring a peaceful and orderly SONA.

"Preparations are in full swing for us to ensure that traffic will be orderly along Commonwealth Avenue, IBP Road, and all other thoroughfares surrounding the House of Representatives. SONA-related activities as well as transport strike will be monitored at the newly inaugurated MMDA Communications and Command Center," Artes said.

The MMDA also issued on Wednesday a list of alternate routes for motorists to take for them to avoid the expected heavy traffic along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

The agency will also implement a zipper lane or counterflow on the southbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue to give way to government officials and guests going to Batasang Pambansa complex.

The MMDA also said it will implement a "no day off, no absent" policy for its personnel assigned at SONA.

It said it would also dispatch ambulances, tow trucks, mobile patrol units, motorcycle units, and flood mitigation equipment, among others at designated routes and staging areas.

The MMDA said it will also deploy audiovisual trucks at strategic locations which would show Marcos' SONA. —KG, GMA Integrated News