Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Open alternate roads: Rama
TO avoid the “horrendous” traffic that irked motorists last Friday and Saturday, Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama instructed traffic managers and the police to open alternative roads and not to close the main thoroughfares too early during this weekend’s festivities.
Rama also announced yesterday that Monday, or the day after the Sinulog grand parade, will be a working day in Cebu City, saying that there have already been too many holidays lately.
Procession
The mayor said he wants a clear and organized traffic plan for the Sinulog procession on Saturday and the grand parade on Sunday so they can keep the inconvenience to motorists to a minimum.
He specifically wants the roads inside the Capitol compound to be open to vehicular traffic this weekend to allow vehicles to move from the north to the south, and vice versa, since nearly all major roads in the city will be closed on both days.
Rama said, though, that they still have to get the approval of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, and have asked the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) to coordinate with Capitol for this.
He also asked Kajima Corp., the contractor of the tunnel at the downtown area, to open the roads at the Plaza Independencia to reduce congestion there.
“I don’t want the traffic last Friday to occur this Saturday... It was not what I expected Citom to do. So this time, I asked them to coordinate with the governor’s office. I told them that they have to do their job and don’t expect me to be there in the streets because I have a different role to play now,” Rama said during the 888 News Forum at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel yesterday.
Rama said it will be Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) Executive Director Ricky Ballesteros, the city councilors and police officials who will be out on the streets this time to monitor the grand parade route.
Ballesteros said yesterday that although there will be fewer out-of-town contingents, they expect to have exciting performances since most of them are joining the competition for the first time.
As of yesterday, 12 contingents have already registered for the Sinulog-based category while at least 20 have registered for the free interpretation category. (LCR)
