Friday, March 23, 2007 Jingjing to go on leave from Citom
LAND Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board 7 Director Rogelio “Jingjing” Osmeña will not be attending the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board meetings starting next week.
That is after his cousin, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, told him to “take a leave of absence” to avoid allegations of bias against Citom.
The mayor, in a news conference yesterday, revealed that Jingjing’s son-in-law is one of the representatives of the Capitol’s Ciudad project in Banilad.
The City Council earlier ordered a moratorium on all development projects in the area pending an impact study on traffic flow along Gov. Cuenco Ave.
The Citom board, where Jingjing presides in behalf of the mayor, the Citom board chairman, last Wednesday asked Citom’s planning division to do the study.
Jingjing reportedly told the planning division to finish the study within the week, something that did not sit well with the mayor.
“I did not appreciate his comment (for the Citom planning division) to finish that study in one week,” the mayor said.
He already talked with Jingjing, whom he said took heed of his suggestion.
“I have asked Jingjing to go on leave until the issue is resolved,” the mayor said.
Jingjing, he added, assured him nothing was intended when he asked that the study be made in a week’s time.
Earlier, in a study made for Ciudad, its developer said the project is “accessible without creating traffic” problems in Banilad.
Copies of the study were sent to City Hall last week. The mayor said Jingjing’s son-in-law distributed them.
Ciudad is being planned on a 2.8-hectare Provincial Government lot along Gov. Cuenco Ave. It’s a mixed-use development project that will include a mall and several condominiums.
Fifth Avenue Development Corp. said that the existing heavy traffic along Gov. Cuenco Ave. from Talamban to the Cebu Business Park is “caused primarily and summarily by the combination of small and medium businesses on both sides of the road.”
One feature of Ciudad’s floor plan showed that pocket lanes will be constructed so that passenger jeepneys unloading passengers going to Ciudad will not hamper traffic when stopping by the roadside.
Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said that Citom, in making its own study, will take into consideration Fifth Avenue’s data. (RHM)
