New May 1 deadline to fix wires, utility posts ‘impossible’

THE new May 1, 2016  deadline set by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama for public  utilities to correct  dangling wires and remove  hazardous poles in city roads is not doable.

Engineer Cayetano Cruz of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said the six-month timetable to finish all  structures was “impossible” to meet.

He said they would ask the mayor  to identify which areas to prioritize their work.

After Friday’s evening meeting with the mayor,  representatives of seven  utilities pledged to  continue  bundling  overhead wires and cables, and remove  redundant poles, but they are still studying the timeline, said Cruz.

Other utilities in the meeting were Globe Telecom, Telecphil, Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN), Bayantel, Visayan Electric Company (Veco), Eastern Telecom and SkyCable.

“I signed that (pledge) but I really told them that it cannot be done by May 1. I know the work load because I was personally supervising our team when we did the first phase on Osmeña Boulevard. It  took us three months to clear that area of dangling wires and take  out some of our poles. That deadline is simply impossible to meet,” Cruz said.

He said  PLDT alone has about 2,000 poles while VECO has about 5,000 poles in Cebu City.

“Even if we only take out half the  poles, we still can’t meet the May 1 deadline. This is not easy work to do. We  also have to consider  disturbances like the weather,” he said.

“I also need to let my crew rest because I can’t have them working day and night. They could get sick, so the more we’ll have problems delivering,” he added.

The utilities had a rough meeting  with Mayor Rama  at City Hall on Friday. The  mayor scolded them for failing to deliver on their promise to correct dangling wires and poles that were rotten or due for replacement.

Representatives had signed a handwritten pledge last July 11 to finish the work, including compliance with an ordinance to transfer their overhead wires underground,  by  October 28, the mayor’s 61st birthday.

In the October 30 meeting, the firms reported an accomplishment of  less than 10 to 20 percent.

After blowing his top, and bringing out chainsaws to show he could cut down the poles, the mayor set a new deadline.

He said the utilities have to report their “milestones” on  Feb. 24, 2016, the city’s charter day,  and finish the work by  May 1.

Cruz  told the mayor it would be difficult to do this without the commitment of other telecommunication firms that would promise to send crews to help, but didn’t show up.

Another meeting is set on Friday by the utilities, who belong to the Technical Infrastructure Committee  (TIC),  which was formed in July after the emergency meeting prompted by the death of 13-year-old Ralph Bureros.

The boy was killed by a PLDT pole that fell on him after a passing truck snagged overhead wires and pulled down the concrete post.

“Hopefully, we can discuss more about this during the meeting. Initially, we really told Atty. (Jose Marie) Poblete (the city engineer)  that we will need their help to talk to our management for a  budget in deploying more people for the job. We are just the representatives, we don’t make those decisions. That is why we need help from the city government,” said Cruz.

Poblete is the city government’s representative in the TIC.

Cruz said that Mayor Rama is set to survey  the city this month to check on the poles and wires.

“After that we’d like to ask him which areas he wants to prioritize because Cebu City is a big  city. We’ll probably ask Atty. Poblete to make a resolution on this (to identify priority areas) and set a doable deadline for us to deliver,” Cruz said.