Metro Manila local governments move work hours to 7 a.m.-4 p.m. | ABS-CBN

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Metro Manila local governments move work hours to 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Metro Manila local governments move work hours to 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Jamaine Punzalan,

Johnson Manabat,

Pia Gutierrez,

ABS-CBN News

 | 

Updated Apr 10, 2024 09:46 PM PHT

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Traffic builds up along EDSA in Quezon City on April 1, 2024, as people return to work or school after the Holy Week. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA (UPDATED)-- The Metro Manila Council (MMC) is setting the working hours of all local governments in the capital region at 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to ease traffic congestion starting next week.

The traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. working hours in government offices "align with the standard working hours of private companies, thereby contributing to traffic congestion in Metro Manila," a Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) resolution stated.

Effective April 15, all government offices in Metro Manila "shall adopt a modified working schedule from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.," it said.

The MMC urged national government agencies in Metro Manila to adopt the modified schedule.

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There are around 645,000 government workers in Metro Manila. Out of the total, nearly half a million take the public transportation to and from work, while around 145,000 use private vehicles, MMDA Acting Chairman Romando Artes said, citing data from the Civil Service Commission. 

"Tayo ay nag-aaral kung paano maa-adjust ang work hours sa pamahalaan...para hindi na po mapasabay sa rush hour traffic ang mga empleyado ng gobyerno," Artes said during the Bagong Pilipinas townhall meeting on traffic concerns in San Juan.

"Sisimulan ng LGUs ng Metro Manila ang 7 a.m.to 4 p.m. work arrangement dahil ito ay naipasa na sa Metro Manila Council," he added. 

(We are studying how to adjust government work hours so that government employees would no longer add to traffic congestion during rush hour. Metro Manila LGUs will push through with the 7 a.m.to 4 p.m. work arrangement because it has been approved by the MMC.)

-- 'Let's give it a try' --

San Juan City mayor Francis Zamora, who is also the president of the MMC, said there is no harm in trying out the new working hours just to know if it will help alleviate traffic in the metro. 

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"Yung feasibility po kasi ng pag-adjust ng oras ang iniisip din po natin, because we can't adjust the work naman sa city hall or sa LGU too far away from the 8 to 5," he told Teleradyo Serbisyo on Wednesday night. 

"Ako po, let's give it a try, subukan muna natin, no harm in trying po. Sa totoo lang, hindi naman natin malalaman hangga't hindi natin sinubukan. At 'pag makita naman natin na may magandang resulta, ituloy tuloy po natin. I am optimistic that this is something we have to try and to see if it works," Zamora said. 

The Management Association of the Philippines earlier urged the government to declare a state of calamity in Metro Manila due to the worsening traffic situation in the nation's capital region.

Data from the 2023 TomTom Traffic Index listed Metro Manila as having the worst traffic congestion among 387 metro areas in the world.

A JICA study meanwhile revealed that the traffic congestion in Metro Manila alone is costing the Philippine economy at least P3.5 billion per day or P1.27 trillion annually.

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