MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte vowed to work on cutting the travel time along EDSA, particularly between Cubao and Makati, from over one hour to only five minutes by the end of the year.

“You just wait. Ayaw kong mag-ano. Things will improve. Maybe God willing, December smooth sailing na,” he said in a television interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s Sonshine Media Network yesterday morning.

“You don’t have to worry about traffic. Cubao and Makati will be just about five minutes na lang,” the President added.

Duterte said it was good he went to China to attend the Belt and Road Forum, where he talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping on infrastructure projects under the government’s Build Build Build program.

The Department of Public Works and Highways earlier said that major infrastructure projects are underway to help decongest traffic in the metropolis, among them the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (MMSS3) and North and South Luzon Expressways connector road project.

The MMSS3 viaduct will connect the two expressways and is projected to decongest EDSA and other main roads by as many as 50,000 cars.

Although it has been part of Duterte’s campaign promise to ease traffic along EDSA, several lawmakers opposed a proposal to give him emergency powers so he could correct flaws in the traffic system.

Sen. Grace Poe said granting emergency powers would just be another source of corruption.

Up to the challenge

Edison Nebrija, head of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) EDSA traffic zone, told The STAR they “are up to the challenge” of cutting the travel time from Cubao to Makati to five minutes.

However, he said the problem is that the heavy volume of cars along EDSA has not decreased.

Nebrija said the inter-agency Task Force Cub-Ma aims to ease the traffic situation along EDSA between Cubao in Quezon City and Chino Roces Avenue in Makati by having enforcers “man all chokepoints.”

He said the task force is trying to cut down travel time initially to 30 minutes “and move on from there.”

The task force – composed of the MMDA, the Department of Transportation, the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic, the police Highway Patrol Group, the Philippine Coast Guard – would “continuously assess EDSA,” while road infrastructure projects are yet to be completed, Nebrija said.– With Ghio Ong