Utility firms promise mayor: Oct. 28 deadline
A mess of low hanging wires in Escario Street like this scene in 2011 still poses safety issues in parts of Cebu City. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Utility firms yesterday promised to fix or remove dangling wires and rotten poles which pose hazards in Cebu city streets.
If they fail to do so by October 28, they risk having their business permits revoked.
They agreed to these terms in a hand-written commitment. If they can’t fulfill their pledges, they will “allow the Mayor of Cebu City to expose the utilities’ insensitivity, non-compliance, irresponsibility and lack of concern.”
Representatives from six utility firms attended yesterday’s closed-door meeting called by Mayor Michael Rama ahead of the July 29 date set by the City Council for a separate executive session.
The death of a 13-year-old boy in barangay Tinago this month revived attention on the common problem of spaghetti wires and low-lying cables. A PLDT concrete post collapsed on a barbecue stand where the boy sat. Overhead cables were dragged by a passing truck, toppling the pole.
The document in the mayor’s office was signed by representatives of Bayantel, Sky Cable, Telicphil, Globe, Visayan Electric Company and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) company.
At the Council’s regular session, Councilor Nestor Archival spoke out again about the “neglect” of utility firms.
Councilor Nestor Archival delivers a second privilege speech proposing new rules to handle the problem of dangling utilty wires and dilapidated posts. (CDN PHOTO /JUNJIE MENDOZA)
He cited Saturday’s repeat mishap of a PLDT post that fell in sitio Maracas, barangay Lahug, injuring two women, after a passing boom truck snagged overhead wires.
“A week ago, I called for the city to take action for the housekeeping of our city streets to prevent another incident. Sadly, there is this incident,” Archival lamented.
“This is the second time in a month that a utility post in this city fell and hit persons in the process. While there is an inherent obligation by the driver and the company to bear the liabilities of the incident in Lahug, it should also be appropriate to consider the standard height requirements of the installation of utility poles and wires,” said Archival.
Archival is a professional electrical engineer with his own company NA Services Inc.
Telecommunication poles should be at least 25 feet or seven meters high based on standard practice, he said.
Archival told Cebu Daily News he is drafting amendments to City Ordinance 1894, which was passed 14 years ago, requiring public utilities to transfer their overhead wires underground.
The same ordinance created the Utility Lines Installation Coordinating Committee, to discuss the problem of unsightly and dangerous spaghetti wires and dangling cables.
The changes Archival wants to see:
1. Wires must be hung at least 16 feet high from the ground
2. A penalty of P14,000 per day for violators
3. Give electricity and telecom companies six months to inspect and bundle all dangling wires, and remove dilapidated posts. The city government will assign areas for inspection.
4. If the utility companies don’t comply, City Hall will hire an outsourced team to do field inspection. Their salaries will be charged to the private companies.
After Archival’s speech, the City Council approved his resolutions to request the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) to make an inventory of idle overhead wires and dilapidated posts in their areas.
The data will be needed by utility firms for their “housekeeping” duties.
REMOVE EYESORES
In the mayor’s office yesterday, power and telecom companies agreed to comply with City Ordinance No. 1894 which was approved in 2001.
They also pledged to remove poles and wires as well as other facilities that pose danger to lives and property, and create eye-sores.
Redundant, rotten and leaning poles should be removed as well as dangling wires.
Cables and spaghetti wires should also be bundled, they agreed.
Standard vertical clearance should also be observed.
“(We also agree to) provide a monitoring team to go around Cebu City to monitor if all poles and wires are within standard and safe for the public,” they pledged.
Weekly meetings will be held by the companies with the Cebu city government until the October 28 deadline.
The pledges were made in the presence of Mayor Rama with city administrator Lucelle Mercado and City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete as witnesses.
In the July 18 mishap involving a second fallen PLDT pole, wires were snagged by a passing truck.
Field service supervisor Greg Yap of PLDT’s preventive maintenance section said they observed proper height clearance with their wires in Lahug.
He said based on their initial information, the driver Fabiano Londres Jr. who steered the Isuzu boomtruck of Khitzu Development Corp. already took responsibility for the accident.
The driver confirmed that the vehicle’s boom or extended arm was raised when the truck passed by.
“We’ve been working on this since Febraruary because it’s part of our preparations for APEC. The area from Mactan to Radisson Blu to Marco Polo has been identified as a priority area. We’ve been complying with height requirements,” Yap told reporters.
He said though that they can’t compel other telcos whose wires remain dangled. /With UP Cebu intern Julienne Hazel Penserga