MANILA, Philippines — At the halfway mark of the 60-day deadline for them to reclaim all public roads under threat of suspension, Metro Manila mayors are eager to trumpet their high clearing rates although the figures have yet to translate into faster and smoother traffic flow.

At the heels of the second Metro Manila Council meeting held on Tuesday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager Jojo Garcia said that around 90 percent of major roads and Mabuhay Lanes (alternative routes), and 60 percent of inner roads had already been cleared in the metropolis.

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Through interviews with MMDA officials and some of the Metro Manila mayors present during the meeting, the Inquirer found out that 80 percent of major roads had been cleared in San Juan; 100 percent (major roads) and 25 percent (inner roads) in Pasay City; 50-60 percent (all roads) in Pasig City; 80 percent (major) in Parañaque City; 70 percent (all roads) in Navotas and 90 percent (major) in Las Piñas City.

Almost 100 percent

In Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa and Malabon, all major roads had been cleared while in Manila, obstructions had been removed from 90 percent of Mabuhay Lanes.

In Pateros, on the other hand, 98 percent of all roads had been cleared.

There was no data from Taguig, Quezon City, Marikina, Caloocan and Makati.

Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, however, announced last week that the city government had already complied with the order, making it the first in Metro Manila.

The figures, Garcia said, were based on the reports of Metro mayors who got the data from barangay leaders in their respective areas. Some of the information also came from an audit conducted by the MMDA.

Other cities either have yet to provide exact numbers, or submitted their progress reports directly to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

For some Metro Manila mayors, it was harder to clear secondary and tertiary roads, where sidewalk vendors and illegally parked vehicles proliferate.

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“It’s the sustainability of the effort that’s important. We can clear it fast, but we also have to make sure they remain that way,” said San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora. “That’s the challenge for us, to preserve our accomplishments even beyond the 60-day deadline.”

29 days left

Metro mayors have 29 days left before the Sept. 29 deadline imposed by the DILG’s Memorandum Circular No. 121.

The memorandum mandates mayors to clear the roads in their areas of all obstructions to help alleviate traffic. If they fail, they face suspension and other administrative charges.

But it’s hard to say whether the massive clearing operations have indeed helped decongest traffic in the metropolis.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez pointed to Edsa as their “biggest problem,” adding that drastic measures like the provincial bus ban were needed to complement their efforts.

Transport regulators believe that the ban, which seeks to prohibit provincial buses and terminals along Edsa, could help reduce the number of vehicles plying Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare.

Its implementation, however, was halted by Quezon City Judge Caridad Walse-Lutero who said the government failed to provide sufficient basis for the policy.

For Garcia, the issue was more complex: The unabated hike in the number of cars on limited road networks, exacerbating the problem of one-sided parking on alternative routes.

Zamora said they were looking at idle land that could be used as parking lots, especially in areas crawling with commercial activity like Greenhills.

New locations for vendors

Pasig, Parañaque and Pasay, meanwhile, pledged to find permanent relocation sites for displaced vendors.

As they close in on the cities’ inner roads, moreover, they have begun mulling whether it was legally possible to use subdivision roads as alternative routes.

“Anything we do to open up as [many] roads as possible [can] help,” Garcia said. “It’s a matter of seeing it through.”

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