HPG cops to be deployed in Metro Manila’s main roads

Members of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) will soon be deployed not only along the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) but also in other major thoroughfares of Metro Manila.

In a press conference at the Department of Transportation (DOTr) headquarters in Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong, PNP-HPG director Police Senior Supt. Antonio Gardiola Jr. said more HPG personnel would undergo extensive traffic enforcement training for their upcoming deployment in the whole of Metro Manila.

“These [HPG] personnel will also be deputized to enforce traffic rules and even to issue [traffic violation] tickets,” Gardiola said.

Gardiola said the additional HPG personnel would be deployed in key areas in Metro Manila, especially in the 10 “problematic zones” from Balintawak to Pasay earlier identified by the HPG.

He said said this was among the immediate solutions discussed by the inter-agency traffic management team to address the worsening traffic situation in the Metro Manila.

DOTr spokesperson Cherie Mercado announced the creation of the inter-agency traffic management team composed of the heads and key officials of DOTr, PNP-HPG, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

“Kung ano yung sakop ng MMDA ay yun na rin yung magiging sakop ng HPG. They (HPG personnel) will be deputized na rin to give tickets. They will also be training together [with the MMDA],” Mercado said.

The team is set to come up and implement immediate solutions to the pressing traffic problems in Metro Manila, while the administration awaits the emergency powers to be vested by Congress to President Rodrigo Duterte to address the traffic situation of the entire country.

Gardiola said there were currently around 300 HPG personnel deployed along EDSA. He said around 1,000 more personnel will be needed if the HPG will cover the entire Metro Manila.

“Our problem is the manpower, we need to hire, recruit and train more people,” Gardiola told GMA News Online in a chance interview after the press conference.

Gardiola said there was still no timeline as regards the hiring of the additional personnel.

He said the inter-agency traffic management team had yet to draft the operational policies and chain-of-command so that there will be no overlapping of functions and power with the MMDA.

“The MMDA and HPG personnel will be working hand-in-hand in enforcing traffic rules. We will make sure na hindi mag-ooverlap yung functions nila," Gardiola said.

"That is why the inter-agency traffic team will also come up with one chain-of-command para mas mapadali ang pag tra-trabaho,” he added. —NB, GMA News