Marcos halts EDSA rehab

Added burden to commuters, emergence of new technologies cited

- BY BETHEENA UNITE and HANNAH TORREGOZA

President Marcos has ordered the temporary suspension of the EDSA rehabilitation to find a better way to implement the project without causing too much burden to commuters.

Marcos made the announcement during the launch of the Family Fare 1+3 promo for Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) and Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) on Sunday morning, June 1.

The President said the added burden the rehabilitation would cause commuters, especially the workers, prompted him to decide to suspend the rehabilitation.

"Meron pang isusunod na announcement dahil doon sa pinaplanong EDSA rehabilitation, ang daming mali, nag-aalala na papano yung trabaho namin, e kung ang pag-commute namin ay napakatagal na, madadagdagan pa ng isang oras, dalawang oras, wala na talaga, hindi na kami uuwi (There will be a follow-up announcement regarding the planned EDSA rehabilitation. There are so many issues, and people are already worried—what about our jobs? Our commute is already very long, and if it gets extended by another hour or two, that's it—we won't even go home anymore)," Marcos said.

New technologies

Marcos also noted that they have already identified new technologies that would potentially shorten the rehabilitation process, adding that the pause would give them time to study these technologies.

"Kaya't tinitingnan po natin itong nangyari. Bukod pa doon meron tayong mga nakita na mga bagong teknolohiya na hindi natin ginamit doon sa pagplano sa EDSA rehabilitation (So we are taking a closer look at what happened. Aside from that, we have identified new technologies that were not used in the planning of the EDSA rehabilitation)," he said.