I DON’T know if somebody put him up to it. But, at last, the mayor of Minglanilla had done something to address the traffic problem in his town.
Well, for starters, he called a meeting to discuss the matter. Never mind if he didn’t attend, but he did send representatives.
So there they were. The stakeholders. And, of course, Joy Tumulak, who seems to be on the news every day. To those who still don’t know, Joy is the provincial focal person on traffic management and the manager of the Cebu South Bus Terminal.
It was Joy who announced what was decided during the meeting that the mayor missed.
Apparently, the delivery of goods to different establishments in the town will only be allowed at night. Or, to be more precise, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. There are exceptions, because in life, there always are. Perishable goods will be allowed as long as the vehicle used to deliver these is a four-wheel truck.
Since the need to implement this ban is immediate, Mayor Elanito Pena will issue an executive order. Normally, a municipal ordinance is required to enforce it but I guess it’s not necessary in this case. Anyway, if they go through the process of filing it, discussing it, approving it then sending it to the Provincial Board to review and give it the board’s go-ahead, the holidays will have been over.
Anyway, in the lead-up to Christmas Day last year, southbound and northbound commuters found themselves mired in traffic on the highway that traverses the town. Sometimes past midnight.
The experience must have traumatized town officials, which prompted them to come up with this “drastic” solution.
At least, that was what one member of the Minglanilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry thought of the plan. Okay, so chamber president Myra Lapitan didn’t exactly put it that way. She was more diplomatic. But I got the idea she didn’t like it.
“For me, it is not the solution,” was what she said.
She’s well aware of the need to decongest the traffic in the town, but she thought there were other ways to address it like imposing a truck ban on certain hours or opening up alternate routes, which, come to think, actually makes sense.
But here’s the deal. The problem is at hand. So there’s a sense of immediacy. Although why I really don’t know. After all, town officials had the whole year to come up with a band-aid solution.
Anyway, so that’s that.
Hey, maybe this year, instead of getting stuck in traffic in Minglanilla until past midnight, commuters will find themselves in the comfort of their own home at the stroke of 12.