Party-list group's caravan snarls EDSA traffic

A caravan by a party-list group snarled traffic along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) before dawn Tuesday, earning the ire of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) a radio report said. A report by radio dzXL said the political stunt by the Bagong Alyansang Tagapagtaguyod ng Adhikaing Sambayanan (Batas) irked no less than MMDA chair Bayani Fernando. "Pinaghandaan na namin ang kalapastangan na iyan, ginagamit ang trapik sa propaganda. Hindi yan okay. Babalandra sa kanya ito, kami na bahala doon (We're weighing our options regarding this violation. They used a busy thoroughfare for propaganda. That's not good. This will boomerang on them. We'll make sure of that)," Fernando fumed in an interview on dzXL radio. Fernando pointed out that the caravan, which started cruising around the north- and southbound lanes of EDSA, had no permit from the MMDA. But he declined to say what action the MMDA will take against the Batas party list, which held the caravan en route to a "show of force" at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. He said any announcement now would result in a "psy-war" with the group, whose head is lawyer and broadcaster Melanio "Batas" Mauricio Jr. Mauricio has a program on the UNTV-37 television network, and has another NGO with the acronym Batas - Buklod ng mga Abugadong Tagapagtaguyod ng mga Adhikain ng Sambayanan. On its website, the Batas party list (www.bataspartylist.com) claims to be an advocate of "justice, education and health" for the "masses." Radio dzBB reported early Tuesday that the vehicles used by the caravan occupied the inner lanes of EDSA, some of them using blinkers – a violation of the law. The party list used its own traffic enforcers – motorcycle-riding men who "directed" traffic to the outer lanes of the highway. No MMDA traffic personnel was around in areas when the caravan passed, the dzBB report said. - GMANews.TV