Priest wants clergy exempted from number-coding traffic scheme 

An official of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said Sunday that priests will be able to serve their flock better if they are exempted from the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program.

 

Father Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, said priests need to be mobile.

 

"Ang trabaho ng pari walang time. Halimbawa, kapag may sakit tinatawag kami, kapag may mamamatay na, ’yung nandun sa life and death situation," he said.

 

With traffic in Metro Manila expected to worsen because of roadworks, priests will have an even more difficult time getting around, he said.

“That is why we want to ask for priests to be exempted from 'color coding' (Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program) kasi covered kami ng coding, so sana may special cases na gaya ng doctors,” he said.

Under the UVRP, also known as number coding and color coding, vehicles with license numbers ending with a certain digit are prohibited from using major roads on specific days of the week.

The program allows certain exemptions for "vehicles used by medical practitioners in an emergency" and those carrying people in need of immediate medical assistance.

 

“Hindi lang para sa pari na mabilis siya makarating kundi ‘yung para makapag-serbisyo siya sa tamang panahon. Kaya kung may traffic, mag-suffer ‘yung kakayahan namin to give pastoral ministry,” Gariguez said. — JDS, GMA News