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MMDA accuses La Salle-Greenhills of bribing traffic enforcers


The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday accused administrators of La Salle Green Hills of paying off enforcers stationed near the school to allow vehicles dropping off and picking up its students.

A report by Mark Salazar in Balitanghali on Wednesday said that MMDA enforcers confessed to receiving a daily food allowance of P50 from La Salle.

The enforcers alleged that they mark their attendance at the school's guard post every day, and collect the food allowance they saved up from the school's administration office at the end of every month.

MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said that the continuous violations of motorists in the area have been a long standing mystery to them.

Illegally parked vehicles often occupy two lanes of Ortigas Avenue despite the fact that the school has color coded car stickers to limit the entry of vehicles at specific times.

The MMDA said that despite this scheme, vehicles are still parked outside the school's premises, which is a "no loading and unloading zone."

Way of saying thank you

In a statement, La Salle denied the MMDA's allegations that it is bribing MMDA enforcers to favor the vehicles fetching its students.

It said the meal allowance was merely "a token of appreciation for helping to manage and ease the traffic situation around the school."

"We know that the MMDA enforcers are just doing their job. They are helping to enforce traffic regulations, and this is our way of saying thank you for their efforts," La Salle President Brotoer Vic Franco said in a statement.

Franco added that they even give holiday gifts to the enforcers during Christmas.

"There are no favors asked, and there is no intention or expectation of that," he said.

Franco also said that it is working hand in hand with the MMDA to help solve the traffic problem that plagues the school's vicinity.

Obstruction

On Wednesday morning, MMDA personnel conducted clearing operations at the La Salle-Greenhills area in San Juan City up to Ortigas Avenue.

During the clearing operations, MMDA supervising officer for operations Bong Nebrija held a dialogue with La Salle-Greenhill's personnel.

The MMDA and the management of the school came to an agreement about the traffic system around the school's area of La Salle-Greenhills.

During the operation, passenger buses were caught dropping and picking up passengers in no loading and unloading zones.

The MMDA intensified its clearing operations after President Rodrigo Duterte's directive during his second State of the Nation Address.

He ordered the MMDA and local government units in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu to clear all roads of obstructions, particularly illegally parked vehicles. —Jessica Bartolome and Rafeea Custodio/ALG, GMA News

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