MOTORISTS and commuters found themselves stuck for seven to 10 hours on the road due to several accidents that occurred in Talisay City and Minglanilla last Saturday.
Aside from several other factors, the absence of Minglanilla’s traffic enforcers, who were attending their Christmas party that day, contributed to the gridlock, said a police official in the same town.
Also blamed was the lack of traffic enforcers in Talisay, which an official of the City of Talisay Traffic Operation Development Authority (CT-Toda) denied.
Rep. Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) said he plans to meet with Talisay City and Minglanilla officials to discuss how to solve the traffic situation that continues to hound the two local government units (LGUs).
“Both traffic commissions should work together and have the same plans laid out not only for special occasions but for everyday traffic,” he said.
Last Saturday’s traffic started on the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR).
Martha Origenes, who was on board a passenger bus for Argao, said it took them five hours to get out of the snarl. Some passengers alighted and hailed motorcycles-for-hire to get to their destinations faster.
Commuters’ outcry
“I was tempted to do the same. If I had extra money, I would have taken a habal-habal. Who would want to be stuck in traffic that long?” she said in Cebuano.
Commuters took to social media to air their gripes.
Alejandra Fuentes Tapangan posted that she spent two hours inside a jeepney from a mall in Barangay Lawaan 1 in Talisay City to Minglanilla when the trip only usually took her 15 minutes.
Cedric Lucero had nothing but profanities to hurl against traffic officials of both LGUs.
“F**CK you to the nth power from the bottom of my heart! Mga way gamit! This is the worst traffic ever! Yours truly, Taxpayer,” Lucero said in his post.
Jakeass Rizon included the hashtags #prayforminglanilla and #trafficcapitalofthesouth in his post against Minglanilla traffic officials.
“Nothing can ruin your Christmas holidays more than good, old Minglanilla traffic,” Rizon said.
Senior Insp. Rico Emperwa, Minglanilla police chief, told SunStar Cebu that they had to deploy all their nine personnel that day to help man traffic after they were informed that most of the personnel of the Minglanilla Traffic Commission (Mitcom) were at their annual Christmas party.
Other factors
Only four Mitcom enforcers were handling the four accidents on the highway.
But Emperwa refused to blame Mitcom for the traffic jam.
He believes that other factors like people trying to get home to their hometowns for Christmas and people doing last-minute shopping at malls along major thoroughfares in Talisay City and Minglanilla were also to blame.
In Talisay City, the CT-Toda denied allegations that they did nothing to solve last Saturday’s monstrous jam.
Engr. Almond dela Peña, CT-Toda head, told SunStar Cebu that he and more than 60 traffic enforcers conducted a 10-hour operation at the CSCR and the main highway when the gridlock first occurred at 1 p.m.
Dela Peña said they tried calling their counterparts in Minglanilla, but no one heeded their calls.
As a last resort, he called the Minglanilla Police Station to ask for their help.
Due to the incident, CT-Toda enforcers will not be allowed to on leave from Dec. 29 to Jan. 1 to help man traffic.
Calls and text messages to Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña and Municipal Administrator Concordio Mejias were not answered, but SunStar Cebu was able to reach Minglanilla Vice Mayor Robert John “Jojo” Selma.
Selma, however, refused to comment as he was in Manila last weekend.