MABALACAT -- The Municipal Council here is set to pass an ordinance prohibiting all forms of burning along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
This is in respond to the fatal smash-up last December 28 at a section of the SCTEx in Barangay Tabun, where some four people, including a child, were killed.
The chain collision of vehicles transpired when a thick smoke covered the expressway.
Councilor Jerry Basilio, Municipal Council committee chair on Public Safety, presented the proposed ordinance before the council last week.
Vice Mayor Prospero Lagman said the proposed ordinance is still in the committee level.
The Committee on Public Safety, Lagman said, will have to coordinate with the Committee on Health, Sanitation, and Environmental Protection regarding the preparation of the ordinance.
Earlier, Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) Chairman Edgardo Pamintuan, through a letter, urged the Municipal Council to draft an ordinance to control indiscriminate burning along the toll roads in a bid to prevent deadly accidents.
The Municipal Council facilitated an initial hearing on the proposed ordinance on Thursday.
Officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), SCTEX and NLEX attended the hearing.
DPWH officials also requested the local government to provide lights along major thoroughfares here to prevent vehicular mishaps.
Municipal Administrator Rosano Pacquia said they have already turned over several sets of streetlights to the SCTEX.
"The SCTEX will install the lights under the expressway bridges in Barangays Dolores and Mabiga," he said.