In a radio interview, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes quoted a foreign development planner as saying that no matter how long, large and wide a road, it won’t be enough for Filipino motorists, especially Filipino public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers.
How do we describe Filipino drivers, especially those at the wheel of buses, jeepneys and taxis?
“Disciplined” is not the word that comes to mind.
At home in chaos and the lack of traffic enforcement seems more appropriate.
It had been said that drivers who can navigate the traffic jams of Metro Manila can handle the worst traffic in other parts of the country and the world.
Sadly, the capital’s standard of road travel and gridlock traffic has a close runner up in Metro Cebu.
Urban growth and the sharp increase in private vehicle ownership have pushed our narrow roads to the limit, conditions which make undisciplined drivers even more unruly.
That description goes for drivers of both PUV and private-owned vehicles. (The increase of fuel-chugging machines on the road is mostly attributed to private vehicles based on registration data of the Land Transportation Office.)
Starting last summer, the situation has become more intense with simultaneous road rehabilitation projects, in as many as nine national roads in Mandaue City.
What’s there to do when road contracts are pegged for completion in January 2016 onward?
Well, sitting back and telling the public to “bear with the inconvenence” isn’t enough. It’s a convenient response that betrays lack of initiative.
What exactly is stopping high officials from putting direct pressure on contractors of the Department of Public Works (DPWH) to work faster?
Mandaue businessman Philip Tan has an acronym for their familiar response: NATO for “no action, talk only”.
Passengers and motorists who suffer in crawling traffic in both Mandaue and Cebu city don’t see much being done.
Gov. Hilario Davide III may be the only one with standing to summon private contractors as chairman of the Mega Cebu board but he said he’s satisfied having met with the DPWH regional director to send the message.
We disagree. The DPWH answers to bosses in Manila, not the riding-commuting public in Cebu.
“Rerouting is the only shceme that we have today because we cannot expand the roads immediately,” said Arnel Tancinco, LTO regional director.
Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes has given the green light for a one-way traffic rerouting scheme in four national roads next week. Cebu City’s traffic office is toying with the idea of making Pope John Paul II Avenue (formerly Juan Luna Avenue) a No-PUJ road in peak hours. If rerouting is the only source of immediate relief, the faster both traffic groups meet to coordinate, the better. Don’t let rerouting fall into NATO.
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