Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Speak out: Mayor’s plan a mere ploy By Buboy Jacinto
THE recent published plan of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to prohibit private vehicles from plying the main street during rush hours to help public utility vehicles increase their income is a mere ploy.
The true agenda is to phase them out eventually.
On account of the inherent inconvenience of jeepneys, i.e. heat, pollution and the criminal activities that occur in PUJs, the riding public would necessarily clamor for a more convenient means of transportation---the mass transit using airconditioned buses.
This clamor would give the mayor a convenient excuse to phase out the jeepneys, his original anti-poor plan, anyway.
Come on Mr. Mayor, since when have you been sympathetic to the plight of the poor jeepney drivers?
If one may recall, Mayor Osmeña was the one who arrogantly and sternly prohibited jeepneys from entering the main streets that caused huge losses to the income of the drivers and their poor families coming from the routes of Mandaue and Talisay.
So what is he trying to tell us, that he had a change of heart?
Not exactly, of course and the public knows this considering his undiplomatic, egoistic and madcap way of doing things.
The operators of public motor vehicles should not be too quick in welcoming this move of Mayor Osmeña.
They should be incisive and discerning in evaluating his motivation for without this, surely they would be taken for a ride again.
The whole truth of the matter is that the mayor and Citom cannot contain the traffic problems of the City anymore.
The ineptness of Citom officials in the field of planning, the lack of proper training of field enforcers, and the poor equipment are just some of the reasons that brought traffic chaos and debacle.
Appropriately, the riding public, the jeepney drivers and operators should not be the ones to bear the brunt or suffer because of the mayor's lack of foresight and proactiveness.
The mythical competence of the city's top leader is suited only for small-time cities or he should experiment it elsewhere, but definitely not in Cebu, a highly urbanized city.
