It’s a working holiday for Perelyn Dosdos, a 36-year-old mother and traffic aide.
Her assignment in Colon Street outside Metro Gaisano department store in Cebu City puts her in one of the busiest streets downtown.
There was no Christmas party this year for employees of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom).
Mayor Michael Rama, who canceled the annual party, also asked them in mid-December to extend work an hour longer daily to deal with what he called “horrible” holiday traffic.
“Maybe we don’t have a party because this year is busier. December 25 last year had fewer people and vehicles on the road. But this year I was amazed because it’s very opposite,” said Dosdos.
She laughed, recalling last year’s party which had videoke sessions and disco dancing at the Citom office.
But this year there’s no extra pay for the one-hour work extension, a schedule that will continue until mid-January for the Sinulog, although the mayor promised to give one sack of rice each for the staff.
And no vacation leaves will be granted during the period.
“This is sacrifice for the good of Cebu City,” explained Joy Tumulak, Citom operations chief.
With her shift from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dosdos was still able to celebrate Christmas briefly with her daughter and security guard-husband at home in barangay Capitol site, and looks forward to a New Year’s Eve get-together next week.
“The important thing is that I wake up in the morning and I still have both my job and my family,” said Dosdos, who finished a degree in computer science.
Looking ahead, the Sinulog festival in January is considered the most challenging and busiest time for Citom traffic aides, she said.
“There are more people now and there will be more no-entry roads,” Dosdos explained.
She lamented that some Cebuanos still haven’t learned from past traffic setups despite repeated reminders.
Although she’s reached 12 years as traffic aide, Dosdos said she still feels the tension when she steps out in a busy intersection for manual traffic operations, relying on her hand gestures and voice to direct vehicles.
Asked how the field work suits a woman, Dosdos didn’t complain.
“OK ra man” she said, adding that the only difference was how a woman’s monthly period could influence mood swings.
The work would be a lot easier, she said, if traffic signal lights in Cebu City were properly synchronized.
This problem requires a large investment, as the city’s computerized traffic signal system, installed in the 1990s, malfunctions and can no longer be upgraded, only replaced.
Of more than 30 signalized intersections in the city, 23 areas shift to manual traffic guides during peak hours from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 to 8 in the evening.
Dosdos admitted having received threats on the job from angry road users.
The quality most needed for a traffic aide, said Dosdos, is patience, something she’s learned over the years.
“Ang tawo maoy lisod kay ang sakyanan ma pugngan pa nimo. Ang mga driver ra man ang gi-seminar about traffic rules but ang riding public wala jud,” Dosdos said.
(Dealing with people is difficult. You can stop a car. Only drivers undergo seminars on traffic rules but for the riding public, there’s none at all.)