The Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday designated Task Force Special Operations chief Edison Nebrija as the new manager to supervise the traffic situation along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, which will be declared a “traffic discipline zone.”
Nebrija will replace Rodolfo Calpito, the outgoing EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone chief, who is set to retire this month.
“Starting Monday, Mr. Bong Nebrija will have a new big role—managing traffic along EDSA. Bong is a big loss to the task force but we need the kind of personality that he has on how to discipline road users and inspire traffic enforcers along EDSA,” said MMDA general manager Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. in a press briefing Monday.
Garcia said Nebrija will be given the full authority to deal with the engineering problems along the stretch of EDSA, the country’s busiest thoroughfare and face of Metro Manila’s traffic woes.
“We have full trust on Mr. Nebrija to handle traffic problems along EDSA,” said Garcia.
Acknowledging the big task on his shoulders, Nebrija vowed to restore discipline along EDSA by enforcing traffic rules and regulations seriously.
“We need to address whole caboodle of problems along EDSA. To do this, we need the cooperation of road users—pedestrians, drivers, private motorists. There should be full enforcement of the law,” he said.
There are 427 traffic enforcers deployed along EDSA working in three shifts. To manage traffic along EDSA, Nebrija vowed to strictly carry out traffic rules concerning passenger buses, including bus segregation scheme, loading and unloading rules, yellow lane policy and closed door policy.
He will also intensify sidewalk clearing operations to remove vendors on footbridges and obstructions in the vicinity of terminals.
“There will be a high visibility of enforcers, I-ACT (Inter-Agency Council for Traffic) and HPG (Highway Patrol Group) on EDSA,” said Nebrija.
“We are advocating for cooperation and discipline. There is no magic here. It is not an easy task but we are not backing up on the assignment given to us,” he added.
Meanwhile, traffic officials Memel Roxas and Jun Vialu have been designated as team leaders of Task Force Special Operations, the team in-charge of clearing illegally parked vehicles, vendors and other obstructions off major roads.
