EIGHTY-NINE barangay officials and tanods in Talisay City, Cebu who were deputized by a local traffic agency recently got authorized to issue citation tickets, empowering them to instill discipline on motorists in their areas.
They can now issue citation tickets to drivers who illegally park their vehicles, according to City of Talisay Traffic Operations Development Authority (CT-Toda) head Jonathan Tumulak.
The decision to deputize barangay personnel is timely as the Department of the Interior and Local Government has urged the village chiefs to clear the roads in their barangays of obstructions, said Tumulak.
Talisay City has 22 barangays. Of the 89 deputized traffic enforcers, only one is a village chief—Lagtang Barangay Captain Chester Salcedo. Four other deputies are barangay councilors and 84 are tanods from Lagtang, Bulacao, Tabunok, Lawaan, San Roque and Linao.
According to Tumulak, the deputized barangay officials and tanods underwent a week of seminar-training at the CT-Toda office.
The CT-Toda started distributing the citation tickets to its new deputies last week.
Tumulak said they are targeting to deputize barangay officials and tanods whose villages are near the national highway and situated in commercial areas.
He said the CT-Toda will conduct its second round of seminar-training in February, intending to recruit more barangay captains, councilors and tanods to act as deputized traffic enforcers. (FMD / KAL)