THE Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) will no longer direct traffic in a depressed portion of N. Bacalso Ave. where the construction of an underpass project is ongoing.
In a Facebook post dated July 13, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said that effective on Monday, July 16, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 will be the “sole traffic authority” in the Mambaling area.
“LTO Regional Director Victor Caindec, challenge accepted. Citom (City Traffic Operations Management, an old name for CCTO) is undermanned and spread too thin as it is; at least now we can focus on Ban-Tal and other parts of the city. You would know this, because you were (former mayor Michael) Mike Rama’s Citom, di ba?” Osmeña said.
“I will ask (Cebu City Police Office) Chief (Senior Supt. Royina) Garma to supply you with 40 police (officers) to assist LTO. This is more help than Citom’s ever had. Good luck!” Osmeña added.
The mayor also attached a screen-captured photo of Caindec’s post from the latter’s Facebook account.
The challenge
In the post dated July 12, Caindec challenged the mayor to resign if he can improve congestion in the Mambaling area.
“Mayor, ang Mambaling dugay na ka palpak (traffic is a perennial problem in the Mambaling area). What’s the metric to improve and I’ll show you how it’s done. Unya, mo-resign ka og mabuhat (Then, will you resign if I succeed)?” he said.
Caindec was CCTO head from Dec. 15, 2014 until he stepped down to return to the corporate world in February 2015.
He took oath as new LTO 7 director last January, and replaced assistant director Anita Pulga who was designated as acting director last year.
Osmeña said that if Caindec can fix the problem in Mambaling, he will also authorize LTO to man traffic in other key points, such as the Banilad area and Salinas Drive in Barangay Lahug.
“Then the rest of the city, at which point, you will finally be doing the job that LTO is supposed to do in the first place, instead of letting the LGUs (local government units) make up for your deficiencies. Be successful, and I will be the first to shake your hand and congratulate you,” Osmeña said.
Tipping point
“I will even let you manage traffic during the Sinulog. If you can do these things better, not only will I resign, I will endorse you for mayor under the full machinery of BOPK (Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan) so it will be more than just the fixers at LTO who will vote for you.
After all, if you can do better, you will have deserved it. But since even as a regional director you’re too dumb to realize that the metric for improvement is Passengers Per Hour Per Direction (i.e., ACTUAL TRAFFIC FLOW), I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. But everyone deserves a chance di ba?” Osmeña added.
Caindec, though, is not buying the mayor’s offer.
“Not so easy, Tom. What’s the baseline in Mambaling that we’ll measure? Unsay tipping point condition mo-resign ka (for you to resign)?” he said.