WITH the massive rehabilitation of EDSA set to begin on July 13 and expected to last until 2027, lawmakers are urging the government and private sector to maximize alternative work arrangements to shield employees from worsening traffic conditions.
Senator Joel Villanueva on Friday stressed the urgent need to fully implement Republic Act No. 11165 or the Telecommuting Act, which he authored, to alleviate the daily strain on workers.
As chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resource Development, he has been pushing since January for wider adoption of work-from-home (WFH) setups.
“Our employees are in a difficult situation, wasting so much time in traffic daily just to report to the office—often for tasks they can easily accomplish from home using proper tools and technology,” Villanueva said.
Meanwhile, Agimat Party-list Rep. Bryan Revilla is pushing to expand the WFH law to include government workers, noting that time lost in traffic is “time taken away from Filipino families.”
Revilla filed a bill seeking to amend RA 11165 to make remote work more accessible across both sectors, especially as Metro Manila braces for years of heavy congestion from the EDSA rehab.
