MANILA — Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista on Friday announced that Metro Manila mayors will convene on Tuesday next week to address the issue on the basis of declaration of class suspension in the metropolis during rainy days.
“On Tuesday, may meeting kami para sa traffic na ‘yan, para alam ng mga mayors ‘yung mga (We’ll have a meeting for that traffic, so that the mayors would know those) decision points,” Bautista said in a TV interview.
Bautista was referring to the heavy traffic caused by floodings in Metro Manila brought about by incessant rains due to monsoon rains.
Bautista also proposed opening a “flood-free lane”, an alternative route to let light vehicles pass through with ease and avoid the heavy traffic that comes with the flooding.
“Immediately finorward ko sa mga department at sa MMDA. Sabi ko sa kanila, kung mayroon tayong Mabuhay lane, dapat magkaroon tayo ng “flood-free lane” na alternative na kapag alam natin na bumabaha diyan, mayroon ka ng flood-free lane para may dadaanan ‘yung mga sasakyan natin (I forwarded to the departments and to MMDA, I told them, if we have Mabuhay lane, we should have a ‘flood-free lane’ as a prepared alternative when we know that it’s flooding there, you already have a flood-free lane so that our vehicles can pass through),” he added.
Earlier, classes in all levels both in public and private schools in Quezon City were suspended Friday afternoon.
Bautista announced the suspension of classes from pre-school to tertiary levels due to non-stop rains in the city.
“Batay sa aming monitoring, pahirapan na ang pagkuha ng masasakyan dahil sa mga pagbaha sa lungsod na pinalala pa ng ongoing nagovernment projects (Based on our monitoring, it’s already difficult to get a passenger vehicle because of the floodings in the city which is even aggravated by ongoing government projects),” he said.
The local chief executive noted that although many students have already went to school this morning, it would be better to suspend classes so that the students with afternoon classes would no longer go to school.
As of 10:30 a.m. on Friday, floodwaters in the intersection of Araneta Avenue and Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City have subsided. (Perfecto Raymundo, Jr./PNA)
