FOR someone who has been battling the scorching heat and heavy rain, and braving the dust and insults of some motorists on the daily, one would expect John (real name withheld) to not last long in his job as a traffic enforcer.
With Cebu City being infamous for its traffic problem, John admits that he still gets stressed out despite being a traffic enforcer for nearly five years.
“Kapoy oy, pero di gyud ko gusto mo-undang kutob sa makaya. Proud gyud ko sa akong trabaho kay desente ni unya makatabang pa gyud tas syudad, dili kay motabang lang og duot (It’s tiresome, but I won’t stop as long as I am able to work. I’m proud of this job because it’s decent and it helps the city; it’s not pushing the city to a worse state),” he told SunStar Cebu.
While most people overlook the passion and efforts of traffic enforcers like John, a private institution wants to recognize them.
Now on its third year, the Rotary Club of Cebu Port Centre, in coordination with the United Architects of the Philippines and Cebu Insurers Club Inc., is on the lookout for 10 outstanding traffic enforcers in Cebu City.
Rotary club president Rodien Paca said they are selecting 10 out of around 498 traffic enforcers who have shown exceptional performance.
“These are unsung heroes, and the Rotary is not blind,” he said.
The selection of the awardees will be based on the traffic enforcer’s complete attendance, quality of apprehensions imposed of traffic violators, results of the drug test that will be administered, and the results of the interview that will be conducted by the screening committee.
The Rotary and the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) will each endorse their own set of nominees, which will be deliberated upon by the committee.
The top 10 traffic enforcers will each receive P10,000 during the awarding ceremony in January, or after the Fiesta Señor celebration.
Aside from this, the Rotary will also provide both field and non-field personnel of CCTO with insurance programs.
Francisco Ouano, CCTO operations chief, said he is grateful that there are civic groups that have a sense of responsibility towards the welfare of traffic enforcers.
“At least, pamaagi ani, makita nato nga naay organization na nisalig sa atong pagdala. Ma-encourage pud atong mga traffic enforcers na mo-man gyud sa traffic (At least, through this we know that there’s an organization that trusts our way with handling traffic. It will encourage our enforcers who man the traffic),” he said.
The sentiment was shared by Councilor Dave Tumulak, head of the committee on public order and safety, who said that directing traffic flow for a highly-urbanized city like Cebu is not an easy job.
Tumulak also lamented that having traffic enforcers is important, especially with the removal of the CCTO’s authority to investigate traffic accidents.
Since last September, the CCTO personnel’s responsibility when there are vehicular accidents has been limited to directing the traffic flow at the site only, while the investigation and sketching of every vehicular accident will be the task of the police.
“Dili lalim ang trabaho sa traffic enforcer. Even the City Government also recognizes the efforts of these men. These are the men behind the scene and are part of the improvement of our city,” Tumulak said. (RTF)