The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has decided to extend for the rest of the year the implementation of the no weekday sales policy and nighttime deliveries for all malls in Metro Manila.
This came about after a consultative meeting between the MMDA and mall owners and operators who gave their nod to the extended implementation of the said policies during their meeting at the MMDA office in Makati City.
Mall operators have acknowledged that the measures helped ease traffic congestion within the vicinities of their establishments.
MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos said he is thankful for the support of the mall owners to the traffic decongesting measures of the agency.
“This only shows that everybody wants to be part of the solution,” said Orbos.
As agreed upon during the meeting, there shall be no conduct of sales and other crowd-drawing events during weekdays and deliveries shall only be from 11 PM until 5am the next day.
The MMDA official pointed out that the no weekday sale of the shopping centers only pertains to mall-wide scale.
Meanwhile, MMDA invited mall operators to have their security personnel participate on traffic management within the vicinities of their malls as it is also for their best interest that traffic is well-managed in their areas.
“We will train them on traffic management and have them deputized so they can issue traffic violation receipts to erring motorists within their areas of jurisdiction. This will also be a big help for us to control traffic in these areas,” Orbos said.
The said measures were introduced and initiated by the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (IACT) late last year in a bid to alleviate traffic particularly during the Christmas season.
IACT is composed of the MMDA, Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group.