Unsolicited Advice on the EDSA Rehabilitation: The Solution Isn’t on the Road—It’s in the Boardroom

By Vincent R. Pozon

Guess what – we’ve already seen what works

With the rollout of a new scheme to limit vehicles on EDSA on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—stacked atop the already stifling plate number coding policy, it can feel like the public is once again being asked to shoulder the greater part of the sacrifice.

The policy’s logic is sound and logical: shrink the public’s presence, and traffic will lessen, giving way to the rehabilitation. In practice, this disables the very people who must move—workers, small entrepreneurs, essential personnel. I suggest we rethink the hierarchy of sacrifice.

So allow me this unsolicited advice: The key is at the top.

Start by calling in the private sector. Urge them, not commuters, to adjust. Companies should be strongly encouraged to suspend back-to-office mandates, even temporarily.

During the pandemic, the streets were clear—not because people were forcibly removed, but because only those who truly needed to be out, were. Work-from-home arrangements became the norm. Zoom, Teams, Meet—these tools blossomed and proved not just viable, but effective. Government agencies created one-stop-shop centers and online platforms that spared the public from bureaucratic pilgrimages across the city.

We’ve done it before. We’re simply asking institutions to lean back into those habits—for a defined period.

Every vehicle taken off the road by work-from-home channels is one less unit clogging a side street in Cubao, or inching through Mandaluyong on a Friday morning. Less volume means less pressure on traffic enforcers, faster work for construction crews, and fewer hours wasted by citizens.

As we’ve managed to do before, stagger and extend office hours across both government and private institutions. Flexibility in time, like flexibility in space, smooths out demand.

And perhaps most importantly: shift the frame. The commuters have already adapted—through motorcycles, bicycles, buying another vehicle, or sitting in traffic. The real solutions lie in institutional behavior. Let government agencies take the lead. Let corporations show civic sense. The public has already adjusted. It’s time the higher floors made some concessions.

Rebuilding EDSA is necessary. But the key to efficiency is upstairs.