THE military will now be involved in implementing traffic rules through the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic or IACT-Metro Cebu, which was launched Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will actively participate in the clearing of roads from traffic obstructions and in operations against colorum (unregistered) vehicles, and assist in the apprehension of traffic violators.
The roles of the different government agencies were laid down during the launching of the council, which is headed by Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Manuel Gonzales said the formation of an IACT was an order from President Rodrigo Duterte when he assumed office in 2016.
Gonzales, also the IACT chief, said Duterte had two main objectives: to decongest traffic and to get rid of the illegal drug problem.
On orders of DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, the IACT will implement traffic management following the five Es: enforcement, engineering, economics, education and environment.
CENTRAL HUB
“This IACT-Metro Cebu will become the central hub of IACT operations in the Visayas. By January, we will establish IACT-Metro Davao to cover highly urbanized areas in Mindanao,” Gonzales said.
IACT is composed of seven enforcement agencies: LTO, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), AFP and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The local government units (LGUs) are also involved.
But while several agencies were involved, the presence of the military raised eyebrows especially since several soldiers who were chosen to join the IACT were bringing long firearms.
FEAR OF MARTIAL LAW
To add to the concern was Duterte’s order to deploy more police and military forces to Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental and Bicol. Critics fear that it was a prelude to a declaration of martial law in the country.
But Duterte assured Filipinos on Tuesday, Nov. 27, that there will be no such declaration.
“You are all interested to know if I am going to declare martial law or not. No, I am not going to declare martial law,” the President told reporters in Panglao, Bohol during the blessing of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
ROLES, TASKS
According to IACT, the LTO will handle implementation of road worthiness of vehicles and other traffic violations, while the LTFRB will handle anti-colorum operations.
For its part, the HPG will apprehend suspected criminals using hot cars, and the DENR will implement anti-smoke belching regulations. The AFP will secure the teams during operations, while the DPWH will make sure the roads are cleared; the LGUs will coordinate with all the agencies.
The mayors have to be involved because the IACT will only succeed with the support of the LGUs.
“In the IACT structure, LGUs are a big factor because IACT enforcers will be going to the localities,” Gonzales said.
The LGUs were represented by their elected officials: Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna of Mandaue City, Mayor Teresa Alegado of Consolacion, Mayor Cristina Garcia-Frasco of Liloan, Mayor Niceforo Apura of Carcar City and Mayor Democrito Diamante of Tuburan, who is also the League of Municipalities in the Philippines president. They all voiced their support for the newly created traffic group.
WELCOME MOVE
But while Cebu City was not represented in the launching, Cebu City Traffic Office head Francisco Ouano sees no problem in involving the military in traffic operations.
“Either military or civilian, that’s a big help in the city where traffic is a major problem because our issue is really just the lack of discipline,” said Ouano in Cebuano.
“Now that the military will be involved, that means more personnel. We have the same goal: to discipline the drivers and make them follow traffic rules.”
Undersecretary Jose Arturo Garcia, the general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority, said the IACT will implement its mandate especially since there are at least 500,000 new vehicles every year.
“These are additional vehicles without infrastructure. So we must help each other in solving traffic problem,” Garcia said.
Garcia-Frasco said the IACT-Metro Cebu is a welcome development because it will help local enforcers in implementing the traffic law.
Alegado, for her part, said that the conception of IACT will help ease traffic in Cebu, which is still manageable for now, unlike in Manila.
Caindec said that the convergence of various agencies into one council would not have happened had Cebuanos not been cooperative solving the traffic problem.
“We have come to a point that we will remind the people that we want to fix Cebu and make it a better place to live in and the key to doing that is self discipline,” said Caindec. (EOB with RAG of SunStar Philippines)