Hi,

I'm a European living and working here for 1 year now. In my country, our driving schools are very intensive (it takes 2 months of bi-weekly schooling with a total of about 30-40 hours of theory. Just learning rules and correct behavior etc.

So, since the Philippines is partaking in the Vienna Convention of international driving rules, I thought perhaps most of the basic rules would be the same.

Like. Green light means general green, meaning green in all directions (left/right/straight) unless a red arrow indicates otherwise.

I quote from Wikipedia:


When the arrow is not lit, turns in any directions are permitted on the main green light unless its prohibited by roadsigns.

With dedicated left turn signals, a left-pointing arrow turns green when traffic may turn left without opposing traffic and pedestrian conflict, and turns red or disappears otherwise. Such a signal is referred to as a "protected" signal if it has its own red phase; a "permissive" signal does not have such a feature.
However, MAPSA and taxi drivers tell me that the rules are different. Green main light and a green arrow box which is off, means that left turn is not allowed. This is of course absurd, because in other intersections, there are explicit red arrows, meaning, since the red arrows should be unnecessary, the MAPSA guy is wrong.

However, when I called MMDA and LTO, it seems that they have absolutely no idea about the traffic code.

In my country, there is a particular law "Law on driving rules" which is a set of about 150 rules. Here, it seems the rules must be compiled from dozen of different memorandums etc.

HELP? I'm considering to do a violation just so that I can take the ticket to court and ask the judge.. I have to make a left turn every day and I'm just sitting there every day with a green light having to wait for 2 minutes with a completely clear intersection...

ENGLISH ONLY PLEASE, THANKS!