MMDA to increase coding penalty to P1,000

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is currently looking at increasing the penalty for those violating the number coding scheme across the metropolis.

"'Yung huling meeting namin with the mayors, tataasan namin 'yan siguro mga P1,000 whether saan kayo nahuli same rate na ho," MMDA General Manager Thomas "Tim" M. Orbos said in an interview on News to Go.

This comes as Orbos noted that the current minimum penalty of P500 is low.

"As of last week, on no coding alone nasa 600 ['yung nahuli]. Mababa din [ang penalty], P500 din," he said.

Authorities last week started issuing traffic violation tickets to motorists found violating the "no window hours" policy of the number coding scheme.

Under the "no window hours" policy, vehicles affected by the number coding scheme for the day will not be allowed on certain roads and areas from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This will be in place until January 31, 2017.

The areas included in the no window policy include:

• EDSA
• C-5 Road from SLEX up to the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Luzon - Flyover
• Roxas Boulevard
• Alabang-Zapote Road
• Mandaluyong City
• Makati City
• Las Piñas City

The number coding scheme remains in place. Vehicles ending in 1 and 2 are covered by the scheme on Mondays; those ending in 3 and 4 on Tuesdays; those ending in 5 and 6 on Wednesdays; those ending in 7 and 8 on Thursdays; and those ending in 9 and 0 on Fridays. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News