The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it will suspend the number coding scheme for one day on Monday in response to one-week transport strike.

MMDA general manager Procopio Lipana told dzBB Sunday that they would evaluate the situation after Monday's transportation strike.

"The... suspension is for Monday only. We will assess if there is a need to suspend the number coding scheme on the succeeding days, depending on the gravity of the transport strike," said Lipana, who is also the head of the Inter-Agency Task Force Monitoring Team secretariat.

Around 1,200 vehicles will be dispatched by the local government units in the National Capital Region to help ferry stranded commuters.

Earlier, MMDA acting chairman Romando Artes said Metro Manila mayors expressed fear that suspending the number coding scheme may result in increasing traffic volume by 20 percent.

Artes said MMDA is planning to deploy vehicles for free rides starting at 6 am on Monday.

“We will start our monitoring at 5:00 in the morning. By 6:00 am we will dispatch vehicles in areas where there are stranded passengers because the request of the transport groups who will not be joining the week-long strike is for us not to indiscriminately dispatch vehicles for free rides. They will lose passengers. They will also be at a disadvantage since they will spend on gasoline but won’t be able to pick up passengers,” he said.

Artes also said other government agencies, including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Intelligence and Coordination Agency (NICA) will help in monitoring the situation of the major thoroughfares and roads. DMS/Jaspearl Tan