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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Restrictions on Mandaue jeepneys eased for 90 days
Upon the request of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña decided to lift for 90 days the ban on Mandaue City-bound jeepneys entering Cebu City, starting on July 10.
Osmeña said yesterday he was bent on implementing the ordinance prohibiting inter-city public utility jeepneys (PUJs) from loading and unloading passengers outside the designated terminals.
But out of courtesy and respect for the governor, he will instruct the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) to lift the restrictions on Mandaue-bound jeepneys.
Not in the mood
“I told her (Garcia) we’re not in the mood to give accommodations to Mandaue jeepney drivers especially after one of our policemen was shot. But I said, because of my admiration of her coming here, I’ll ask Citom to lift the restrictions for 90 days.
They can ply their usual routes then we’ll see what other things we can work out,” he said.
The mayor and the governor agreed that within the 90-day period, Garcia will propose other ways on how the City should deal with the drivers plying the Mandaue City-Cebu City route.
Gestures
Garcia, for her part, said she merely asked what else could be done without necessarily imposing what Capitol thinks is right to solve the issue. She thanked Osmeña for the gesture, saying this is what happens when public officials work together.
Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo (Nadsu) chairman Anthony Pogado is also thankful to Osmeña and Garcia.
Pogado appreciated the move, even if it is only for 90 days.
He also hopes that the proposed ordinance of Cebu City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera will be approved because this will be a permanent solution to the problem.
Pesquera is proposing an amendatory ordinance, which allows the Mandaue City jeepneys to enter Cebu City passing by certain roads.
After waiting for Osmeña at his office for almost 20 minutes, the governor was able to discuss the request of Nadsu) with the mayor during a closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon.
Osmeña explained he was late because he thought the meeting would be at the governor’s office. He was on his way to the Capitol when he received a call that the governor was waiting for him at City Hall.
“I didn’t want the governor to walk out of here empty-handed because she showed a lot of goodwill by coming here and for that reason alone, I agreed,” he told reporters yesterday.
While he has no proof that a Nadsu driver was behind the shooting of a speed cop last week, the mayor said he is convinced one of the drivers had something to do with it because the victim is a traffic policemen who was active in enforcing the ordinance.
Osmeña observed traffic congestion in the city was eased after the strict implementation of City Ordinance 2072, which empowers Citom to impound upon the third offense any PUJ that violates City Ordinance 1837.
Ordinance 1837 mandates inter-city PUJs to use only the designated terminals in the city.
He said, though, that he still has to get a report from Citom that would substantiate his observations.
City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said that in his opinion, Osmeña’s decision to grant the request of the governor and Nadsu drivers no longer needs the council’s approval since Citom is directly under the mayor, who sits as chairman of the Citom board.
Aside from the concerns of Nadsu, the mayor said he and Garcia also discussed briefly the proposed land swap deal between Capitol and City Hall.
According to the mayor, the governor is willing to eventually discuss and work out the deal, “as long as some people will not grandstand.”
“I think we all know what she’s referring to and I told her I think it won’t happen again because they all learned their lesson... I don’t like to be presumptuous but I’d like to feel that we’ve opened doors for negotiation. I hope she feels that way too because I’m not the one who’s going to make decisions,” he said.
After getting criticisms from some members of the City Council, Garcia decided to shelve the proposal of the City Government to swap some of its lots at the North Reclamation Area with Province-owned properties in the city occupied by the city’s urban poor constituents.(LCR/AAG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 4, 2006 issue)
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