LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan has warned telecommunication companies that the City Government will no longer renew their business permits should they fail to get rid of the spaghetti or dangling wires in the city by Dec. 16, 2022.
Chan said he had given the telcos an ultimatum along with the Mactan Electric Company (Meco), considering that it has been almost a year since the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (Rai), and yet entangled wires can still be seen in the city.
The mayor said this had caused a lot of traffic incidents in the city, some which had resulted in the death of several individuals.
“It’s been close to a year since Typhoon Odette hit us. They (telcos) have not been concerned with this. That is why their work is slow,” Chan said in Cebuano.
He added that telcos reportedly left the wires the moment they were able to return the services to their customers.
Chan said the telcos should be united in removing their wires as he is set to revisit the city streets on Dec. 16.
The mayor said the City Government will revoke or no longer renew their business permits next year should they fail to clear the spaghetti wires.
On Thursday evening, Nov. 24, Chan also inspected the spaghetti wires that can be seen along the road in Barangay Buaya.
He said only PLDT did not cooperate while other telecommunication companies had already started their clearing operations.
Chan said they should not wait for another typhoon before acting on it.
Telcos’ response
In a statement, PLDT and Smart Corporate Communication Group head Cathy Yang said they will heed Chan’s call to clean up dangling wires throughout the city.
“PLDT continues to coordinate with relevant groups as we continue our own efforts to clear out dangling wires. We wish to assure the local government and Mayor Ahong Chan that we are taking this seriously and that we are working to complete this important endeavor,” said Yang.
“There are two PLDT teams dedicated for this initiative. They have been working hand in hand with the other stakeholders to clean up these wires throughout the city. And we would like to share some photos of our team’s on-ground efforts in support to Mayor Chan’s directive,” she added.
In a statement sent to SunStar Cebu on Friday, officials of telco Converge also assured the Lapu-Lapu City Government of their full cooperation in the clearing operations against spaghetti wires along the city.
“To the best of our knowledge, we have removed all unnecessary cables in our operating vicinity soon after Odette struck the region,” Converge said in its statement.
Separately, a representative of Globe Telecom assured Chan that they support his initiative to clean up spaghetti wires in the city.
Patrick Gloria, Globe’s director for external affairs for Visayas and Mindanao, said they had been conducting joint cleanup activities with other service and utility providers after the aftermath of Typhoon Odette.
“Since then, we have been undertaking cleanup activities as part of regular maintenance activities. Rest assured that we will provide updates to the mayor as we progress in our efforts,” Gloria added. (MKG, KOC)