Cebu City may have failed to join today’s national launch of Road Sharing Day, but “Tindak sa Sugbu” bikers dominated some city streets late yesterday afternoon for Earth Hour.
About 350 bikers occupied part of Osmeña Boulevard at 5 p.m. and traveled to Fuente Osmeña circle then to the Cebu Business Park.
They reached their final destination at the SM Northwing where the ceremonial switch off for this year’s Earth Day celebration was held.
The “Tindak sa Sugbu” group is led by psychology students and environment advocates in Cebu.
Dressed in an orange bike suit, Councilor Gerardo Carillo joined the bikers who converged at the Plaza Independencia on their way to the SM mall. Their journey took them two hours to complete.
Carillo told Cebu Daily News that the Cebu City government is determined to pursue road-sharing plans through the draft ordinance of Councilor Nida Cabrera which provides for bike lanes and sets up a Tindak sa Sugbu Commission.
At SM, the bikers witnessed the ceremonial switch off of lights in celebration of the Earth Hour.
Later they went to the South Road Properties (SRP) for the final leg of their city tour.
The city government has designated SRP’s seawall roadside as the city’s official bike and jog lane.
The council passed in their March 19 session Carillo’s resolution which allows biking and jogging near the SRP seawall roadside from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays to Saturdays and the whole day on Sundays.
“It is also to provide a place for the conduct of healthy activities for the Cebuanos, but not limited to Cebu City constituents and visitors,” the resolution stated.
The city government is urging bikers to organize themselves as the “Sugbu Bikers” to make it easier for the SRP Management Officer to monitor the entry of bikers and their use of the SRP seawall roadside.
LAUNCH
Mayor Michael Rama authorized the allocation of P112,500 from the city’s Pagcor funds to buy 250 bikers’ uniforms and packed meals to be distributed to “Sugbu Bikers” in the group’s launching from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. today
Today’s activities include an oath taking, turn over of uniforms from the city and the reading of rules and regulations on their use of the SRP seawall roadside.
The Cebu City Council approved a P1.4 million outlay to purchase mountain bikes for barangay tanods in the city’s south district.
The bikes will be used for peacekeeping patrols and emergency response.
The Cebu City government is buying 68 bicycles worth P20,000 each and will give two bikes each to the 34 south district barangays./ With Correspondents Edison delos Angeles and Michelle Joy L. Padayahg