CEBU City’s traffic enforcers will return today to Mambaling, a day after the mayor pulled them out in the midst of a word war with the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) regional director.
“The mayor called me up nga balik ta’g deploy in Mambaling area tomorrow (Tuesday, July 17),” said Francisco Ouano, operations chief of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO).
A group of police officers directed traffic in the intersections below the Mambaling overpass on Monday, after the mayor told 24 traffic enforcers in the area to report to the central and northern districts instead.
At City Hall, the mayor admitted he was behind the display of tarpaulins on several flyovers surrounding the Mambaling area. The tarpaulins showed a public advisory, which read that concerns on traffic may be sent to LTO 7 Director Victor Caindec, since Osmeña has already given the City’s traffic jurisdiction over Mambaling to LTO.
For his part, Caindec commended Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak and the city’s police for supervising traffic flow in the Mambaling area where the construction of an underpass project is ongoing.
This, he said, helped ease traffic congestion in the area.
Caindec said LTO did not field personnel in the area because managing the traffic on the streets has long been devolved to local governments.
This is supported by the City’s passage of City Ordinance 801 or the Cebu City Traffic Code and an ordinance that created the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO).
This is also why he is not affected by the tarpaulins.
“If he (Osmeña) wants to surrender his responsibility, he must submit a manifestation to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG),” he said.
As for Osmeña’s earlier statement that he will field personnel of the City to help LTO manage the traffic, Caindec said the mayor should first make job-order (JO) employees of CCTO, who have been working for more than 20 years, regular employees so LTO can deputize them.
“If they will become regular City employees, they will become accountable officers and they will qualify to be deputized by LTO to issue temporary operator’s permits against traffic violators,” he said.
Jonathan Tumulak, traffic management focal person of the Cebu Provincial Government, said that the traffic hounding the Mambaling area should open the eyes of local government officials and their traffic managers.
He believes that barangays should be tapped to help manage the problem.
Last week, the Capitol and Talisay City Government started training the first batch of barangay tanods who will assist traffic enforcers in manning traffic in the villages.
The barangay tanods are not only taught basic traffic signaling and how to properly deal with violators, but also how to respond to accidents.
Yesterday, Monday, July 16 he said that the gridlock went as far as Barangay Pardo and affected even alternate routes, particularly in Barangay Inayawan and Cogon Pardo, all in Cebu City.
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 said they will help local authorities ease the traffic in Mambaling area.
They also vowed to help discipline reckless drivers to prevent vehicular accidents.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, PRO 7 director, said the traffic personnel of local police stations can help in going after drivers who are fond of verspeeding.
He said he will coordinate with the Highway Patrol Group 7 on how to make the roads safer for motorists and commuters.
Sinas was told that bus drivers often overspeed from Naga City to Oslob, Naga City to Toledo City, along Transcentral Highway and in northern Cebu starting from Consolacion. (EOB, JKV, KAL)