A vehicle bearing the logo and initials of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) was spotted cutting off other vehicles in line near a flyover toward the Meralco Building in Pasig City.
Automotive publication VISOR on Thursday, May 15, posted a video sent by Kyle Dael, which showed an L300 with the initials of the traffic authority attempting to cut vehicles below a flyover.
The L300 was coming from the lane that was supposed to be for vehicles passing the flyover.
“Happened just now at Meralco flyover. Habang kaming lahat ay pumipila, MMDA pa ang hindi sumusunod,” VISOR quoted Dael as saying.
The post has received 160,000 views, 1,700 likes and reactions, and 275 comments from social media users, some of whom shared similar experiences.
“Vehicles going to and from the MMDA building along [Julia] Vargas [are] most oftentimes abusive. Be it official MMDA vehicles or other government and private visitors to their office,” a Facebook user commented.
“I experience this often because my office is in Ortigas Center and I frequent City Golf, which [is] right in front of their office. Their enforcers are parked along the sidewalks near the Valle 3 area and their vehicles [or] visitors use wang-wangs to muscle their way thru traffic,” the online user added.
“Normal [naman] ‘yan [diyan], lalo n sa C5 exit ng Ortigas, ‘di [na] bago,” another commented.
“‘Di lang nman #MMDA, pati [‘yung] bus service ng #Philhealth. Grabeng mang-cut. Style UV express. Masaklap pa, once naka nguso na sila, papaunahin pa [‘yung] ibang bus nila,” another Pinoy wrote.
“Kahit sa hapon, maybe at around 5 p.m. to 5:30 pm in Ortigas area, the same type of vehicle marked with MMDA also cuts through from the right-most lane, making a left turn to EDSA,” a different online user said.
“Ganyan ‘yan. Minsan may escort pa ‘yan na hagad. Tapos pa stop pa lahat sa intersetion, tapos nakalagay MMDA transport vehicle,” another Pinoy wrote.
Others called out the government agency for the act, saying that their people are not following road rules despite being the traffic authority in the metro.
“Ano na, MMDA? Lakas niyo manghuli pero kayo pa nauunang pasaway sa daan!!” a Facebook user exclaimed.
“Feeling entitled talaga. Sila dapat serbisyo publiko pero parang sila pa pinagseserbisyuhan natin, kakapal ng mukha!!! MMDA, pakigawan ng imbestigasyon at iharap sa national TV [or] public ang makapal na mukha ng driver niyan,” another online user said.
Cutting off a vehicle means entering a lane without proper caution, leaving others to take evasive action, such as suddenly braking or changing lanes instead.
The driver who does the cutting often does so abruptly, neglecting to use a turn signal and moving their vehicle without proper consideration for others.
MMDA is primarily responsible for delivering services that “have metro-wide impact and transcend legal political boundaries or entail huge expenditures” that would make it impractical to leave them in the hands of individual local government units.
Such services include management of transport and traffic, flood control and sewerage systems, urban renewal, land use planning and shelter provision, health, sanitation, solid waste disposal and public safety.
Managing Metro Manila’s transportation system and traffic flows includes coordinating and monitoring the mass transport system, parking rules and regulations, apprehension and ticketing system, and other matters related to the people and vehicles on the metro’s thoroughfares.
