Traffic personnel asked to work extra hour

All Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) personnel will be asked to work an hour more from Aug. 20 to Sept. 7.

No one is allowed to go on leave, take a day off or call in absent on those days, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama told around 400 traffic personnel at around 5 a.m. yesterday.

The mayor met with CCTO personnel at the barangay San Nicolas sports complex to finalize preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, which will start on Saturday.

“From their regular eight hours, they will be required to render nine hours of service a day. It will be compensatory,” said CCTO executive director Rey Gealon.

If more traffic personnel are needed to prevent congestion at certain hours, Mayor Rama said even the CCTO office personnel will be deployed on the streets.

“With the new CCTO uniform, all personnel are the same. There is no such thing as parking aide or office personnel. They are all the same,” Rama said.

He asked all personnel not to be lazy and direct the traffic when they find themselves in unmanned areas. He also asked them to observe personal hygiene and good grooming practices.

Lito Maderazo, overall coordinator of the APEC Cebu Organizing Committee, said host local government units Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu have assured him that traffic flow along the APEC routes will be smooth.

Trucks will be banned from Apec routes at certain hours.

“A truck ban is something that will minimize the number of vehicles on the road,” Maderazo said, although he admitted that this would affect business.

Several vans are on standby to take delegates between their hotels and the meeting venues.

The meetings will be held in Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Radisson Blu Cebu, and Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa.

Senior Supt. Noel Gillamac, Cebu Provincial Police Office director, said he has directed all police units to also supervise traffic in their areas, especially in Talisay City and Minglanilla in the south and Consolacion and Liloan towns in the north.

Meanwhile, Cebu provincial information officer Ethel Natera said more than 300 students have volunteered to help during the Apec meetings, exceeding their required number of volunteers.

Most are from the University of San Carlos, University of San Jose-Recoletos, Cebu Normal University and University of the Philippines Cebu. Some are fresh graduates and out-of-school youth.

In the last two weeks, the volunteers underwent training facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs. They are now waiting for their assignments. / and PIT Intern Jay-Ileen Engalla