CITY OF SAN FERNANDO--The city government here is contemplating on filing a complaint against the National Grid Power Corporation of the Philippines or NGCP for allegedly neglecting the administration's appeal to move the electric posts currently located in the middle of Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA) here.
This was disclosed by city Councilor Celestino "Tino" Dizon, in-charge of the project, who expressed concern over the risks posed by the electric posts.
According to Dizon, the 20 electric posts standing on the stretch of Jose Abad Santos Avenue have been causing a lot of concerns in terms of safety and aesthetics.
"It is very disturbing that electric posts are existing on the center of a major road where thousands of vehicles are passing through each day. This can cause major vehicular accidents especially to sleepy drivers or to motorists who are unfamiliar with the road," Dizon stressed.
He also cited the possibility of explosions when the posts, which hold high voltage of electricity, are hit by big vehicles.
"It's just like a disaster waiting to happen and we, in the city government, would not want that to happen," Dizon noted.
Dizon furthered that the presence of the posts also cause traffic gridlocks in the highway especially in areas where there are U-turn slots.
"JASA is a six-lane highway but in some U-turn slots, it becomes restricted to two-lanes due to the division brought by the steel posts and sometimes becomes a bottleneck," he noted.
Dizon disclosed that the city government has already expressed their concern through a letter as early as 2013 but allegedly, the NGCP management has not acted on it.
"We have been conducting meetings about. In fairness to the engineering team of the NGCP, they have already conducted studies on where to move the posts. But the legal section seems to be ignoring this concern," he said.
The councilor also noted of the alleged one-day notice of cancellation of the power corporation in their recent scheduled meeting which includes several sectors like business establishments and concerned stakeholders.
"We do not really want to go this far but if it is the only way for them to take us seriously, we will be filing a case as soon as possible," Dizon added.
Dizon said that a consultation between the executive and legislative department will be held next week before they officially take legal action on the matter.
"We are not doing this for us or for Fernandinos alone. JASA is a major highway used by motorists from all over the region and their safety is our concern here," he stressed.
Sun.Star Pampanga tried but failed to reach NGCP officials for comments at press time.