THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 has trained more than a hundred police officers in Cebu Province to enhance its efforts to address the rising number of accidents on the Transcentral Highway (TCH) within Balamban’s jurisdiction.
In a press statement on Friday, May 31, 2024, the agency said Director Glen Galario is set to authorize police personnel under the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) to be part of LTO’s deputized agents.
A total of 114 police personnel, 10 personnel from the Balamban Traffic Management Office and two from the Provincial Mobile Force Company attended the training held at the E.S. Binghay Memorial Sports Complex in Barangay Sta. Cruz-Sto. Niño in Balamban on May 14.
The TCH is considered a dangerous road, especially for those who are not familiar with its inclines and sharp curves.
“Based sa among reported nga traffic incidents, makaingon jud mi nga ning saka jud na siya. Ang cause man gud ani niya kay kaning mo anha sa TCH nga dili familiar sa kalsada unya magpataka lang og padagan sa ilang mga motor,” said MSgt. Bai Haron of the Balamban Police Station.
(Based on reported traffic incidents, we can really say that they have increased. The cause of this is mainly those who come to the TCH and are not familiar with the road, then drive their vehicles recklessly.)
Multiple road accidents have occurred on the TCH over the years, with the most recent publicized incident in April, involving a motorcycle that overshot the road and hit a government agency sign.
The accident killed the backrider, while the motorcycle driver was injured.
On March 21, a sports utility vehicle overturned in Barangay Gaas, Balamban, which resulted in the death of the SUV driver and injuring 10 others.
In September 2023, at least three persons died when two big bikes collided with each other.
Traffic signs
SunStar Cebu tried to get the recent statistics on the number of road accidents recorded on the TCH; however, the police station said its data system on crime register has been down since last week.
Police authorities have already placed signs along the TCH reminding the public to drive safely and not to treat the road as a race track.
“We have traffic signs, especially near the curves. We have traffic signs there, and there are reflectors in the middle of the road. Besides the traffic signs, we also placed warnings to slow down in those areas because those are accident-prone areas,” Haron said in Cebuano.
Deputization seminar
Meanwhile, Galario said the deputization seminar was in partnership with CPPO Director Col. Percival Zorrilla and Balamban Mayor Ace Stefan Binghay who communicated to the agency their plan to deputize police personnel and local enforcers of Balamban to minimize the traffic-related incidents along the TCH.
In his letter of invitation to Galario, Zorrilla called a meeting last month to gather stakeholders, the Balamban police as well as concerned government agencies to address the problem, particularly within the jurisdiction of Balamban.
Zorilla said the meeting’s agenda was to discuss the current traffic situation, identify specific problem areas and explore viable strategies to enhance traffic management and safety measures.
The police official aimed to “harness collective expertise and insights to implement practical and sustainable solutions” during the meeting.
To further strengthen the collaboration, Galario decided to conduct deputation training for some of the police personnel in the province to help LTO’s current personnel in implementing traffic laws in the accident-prone area.
However, Galario clarified that not all of those who attended the training would be deputized.
“We will have to consult first on how many we can deputize to ensure that these deputation authorities will be used accordingly,” he said.
LTO 7’s Traffic Adjudication Section in charge Froilan Jay Suarez, Regional Training Officer Apollo Machachon and the Traffic Safety Unit in charge presented the lecture needed for the deputation.
Galario earlier deputized 14 patrol officers of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.
LTO 7 Operations Division Chief Vicente Gador Jr. said the 14 patrol officers were trained at the LTO Central Office and were officially issued their temporary operator’s permit.
LTO 7 currently has a total of 224 deputized personnel in Central Visayas who are authorized to apprehend violators of traffic laws. / WBS with PR