Breaking news! Government confirms that 2025 EDSA Rebuild is postponed

After much hullabaloo, the EDSA Rebuild has just been halted. Albeit temporary, as the operative word is “postponed”, it seems the government recognized the need to backpedal a bit after a slew of public outrage, vitriol, and violent reactions to all that will happen and be implemented once the project begins in the middle of this month, June 2025.

Plans for EDSA Rebuild stopped for now

As we speak, the MMDA, the DOTr, at least one Senator, and other government news outlets have acknowledged and confirmed that, following the order of the President himself, the EDSA Rebuild has indeed been postponed. The plan is as big and ambitious as it gets, but with less than half a month before its first intended implementation, the public was in uproar. From rerouting to the proposed odd-even scheme and all other plans to help alleviate traffic along the main roadway, it seemed that everything – and everyone – may be a bit too hasty.

Originally, the EDSA Rebuild was slated to start on June 16 this year and would have been completed by 2027. Of course, none of this will happen now, but it will soon, if we’d wager a guess. According to the President, he wants the three main government agencies involved – DOTr, DPWH, and MMDA – plus all the other stakeholders to find better ways to manage all facets of the project, from the roadworks themselves to the easing of traffic flow so that it can be completed in just six months.

In all the noise since the announcement of the EDSA Rebuild, one Senator, JV Ejercito, spoke up and made a most sensible suggestion: that the Rebuild commence only when both the North-South Commuter Line (NSCR) and the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) are fully operational. While we aren’t certain of exactly how urgent the repairs on EDSA are, if it can wait until the commuting public is given more and better options to get to, from, and around the Metro, then that should be what’s in everyone’s best interest, right?

And so everyone who was vehemently against what looked like a rag-tag band-aid and clearly poorly planned interventions wins, at least for now. As to how soon the gears of the EDSA Rebuild will start grinding again is up in the air, but if it’s time that the concerned government agencies need, it’s time that they’ve gotten.

Now let’s all hope for better solutions for everyone.