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LIKE MANY OTHER MOtorists, I am often confused by “color coding,” a.k.a. number coding. Which of the 17 cities and municipalities of Metro Manila enforce coding, the rule that bans motor vehicles whose license plate’s ending number coincides with a certain
day of the work week? Which cities do not?
For those from another planet or who have been hiding under a rock, coding means that if your car’s last plate number is 1 or 2, you can’t use that car on Mondays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; if it’s 3 or 4, Tuesday is your no-car day; 5 or 6 bans your car on
Wednesdays; 7 or 8 means don’t drive your car on Thursdays and 9 or 0 leaves you car-less on Fridays (unless you have another car with a different last plate number.) Violation of coding subjects you to apprehension by traffic police or Metro Manila Development
Authority (MMDA) officers and a fine.
What abets the confusion is that certain cities and towns of Metro Manila do not honor the “window hours” between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when coding is suspended. First and foremost among these is the Republic of Makati, the richest and toniest city of Metro
Manila, whose mayor now Vice President-elect Jejomar Binay institutionalized the coding scheme when he was MMDA chairman.
Now and then, the mayors of other cities/ towns that also do not honor the window hours suddenly allow it without informing the motoring public. Or towns and cities that used to have the window silently remove it, enhancing the revenue opportunities of said
town or city, if not its traffic law enforcers.
The vagaries of coding are enough to make motorists paranoid. So I’d like to share with readers the latest info on coding obtained from the MMDA Hotline 163 and forwarded via email to the Automobile Association Philippines by Domingo “Boy” Guevara, an AAP
member who himself received it via email.
NO NUMBER CODING. Marikina, Parañaque and Taguig.
NO WINDOW HOURS. Makati, Malabon and Las Piñas enforce coding from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
CITIES/ TOWNS WITH WINDOW HOURS. Caloocan, Manila. Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Navotas, parts of Pasay (?!), Pateros, Quezon City and Valenzuela.
STREETS IN PASAY CITY EXEMPTED FROM CODING. Ninoy Aquino Avenue, MIA Road, Domestic Road, Sales Road, Tramo and portions (?!) of Airport Road..
STREETS WITH WINDOW HOURS. Edsa (even within Makati’s borders), C5, Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, Roxas Blvd.
DID NOT HAVE BUT NOW HAVE WINDOW HOURS. Pasig City and San Juan.
Pasay City’s coding needs clarification since only parts of it are declared as having window hours and unspecified portions of Airport Road are said to be exempted from coding.
Aside from the above, Boy Guevara forwarded info about MMDA policies reportedly obtained by telephoning MMDA Personnel Officer Antonio Pagulayan. Although Guevara says he got this from a Web forum and it still has to be confirmed, knowing about it may prove
helpful in a future situation with the MMDA.
NO GATHERING IN GROUPS. MMDA officers are not allowed to gather together or even stand together in groups of two or more in order to apprehend, except for special operations such as apprehending groups of buses for smoke-belching.
SWERVING ISN’T A TRAFFIC VIOLATION. Moving one lane to the left or right is not swerving and is not a violation, much less if you do so with a turn signal. Swerving is defined as switching two or more lanes very quickly.
USING THE YELLOW LANE IS A VIOLATION and will get you a ticket. But you may complain if you see that buses going out of the yellow lane are not apprehended, yet a private car entering the yellow lane is.
YOUR LICENSE MAY NOT BE CONFISCATED FOR A TRAFFIC VIOLATION. The only time that an MMDA officer can confiscate your driver’s license is when you are involved in an accident or it is your third violation and you haven’t settled your fines yet. The MMDA officer
may issue you a ticket, which you can contest if you believe it is unjustified. If the MMDA officer insists, accept the ticket and report him to MMDA Metro Base or the MMDA Hotline.
ASK FOR THE MISSION ORDER. You can ask the MMDA officer for his Mission Order written by his supervisor. If an MMDA officer apprehends you for a traffic violation that is not in his Mission Order for the day, you can report him and he will (or should) receive
disciplinary action.
In any case, according to this forum you can call either the MMDA Hotline 163 or the MMDA Metro Base at 0920-9389861 or 0920-9389875 to send inspectors over while you are contesting your apprehension.
TODAY’S BUMPER STICKER: A business executive is someone who talks golf in the office and business on the golf course.
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