Great new laws! But are they enforceable?

Republic Act (RA) 10666 a.k.a. the Children’s Safety Act is now being enforced nationwide and indeed no one will argue with you that the intent of the law is to ensure that children who ride motorcycles are not in any dire danger. This is why the law stipulates that a child must be able to reach the foot peg of the motorcycle or have its arms hold on to the rider of the bike. But the big question really is… is this law enforceable? Perhaps in Metro Manila or Metro Cebu, it could be enforceable, but for the rest of the country especially in the provinces, even the helmet law is totally ignored!

Meanwhile in Cebu City, Mayor Tomas Osmeña is against this law simply because he knows that many children have no other means of transportation in going to school except via the “Habal-Habal” motorcycle taxi, who maybe the most reckless drivers in the world, but since there are not traffic enforcers in the mountains of Cebu, they can violate the law with impunity! Mind you, the Habal-Habal drivers are notorious in violating traffic laws even inside Cebu City. So this law is a huge challenge for Land Transportation Office (LTO) officials to enforce.

At this point, I suggest that the enforcement of this law be suspended until Congress can come up with some kind of program where children who can’t go to school anymore using those motorcycles can still go to school. Perhaps the Barangays ought to operate school buses for these kids so that this law can be enforceable, while at the same time guaranteeing the safety of school kids who take Habal-Habal to school.

Another controversial law that apparently wasn’t signed by Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte, but due to the incompetence of then Pres. Benigno “Noy” AquinoI who failed to sign the Anti-Distracted Driving Act (ADDA), it lapsed into law last July 21st. With the implementation of this law, it is now illegal for drivers to use their phones, laptops, iPads or similar gadgets while driving a car even if you’ve stopped in a red light.

During my time as chairman of the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management (CITOM) the new law forcing drivers and passengers to use seat belts was enforced and our biggest problem was the dark tints of almost all private vehicles, which made it practically impossible to spot a violator. At this point, I would like to believe that this law would have enforcement problems unless tinting the front windshields of cars are prohibited.

Again, these are noble laws, which show that our legislators do want to promote safety on our streets. However the present situation on the road makes the enforcement of these laws difficult if not impossible. If Congress must make better laws, they should come up with laws that can easily be enforceable. Lastly, I dare say that it is about time that we do away with the first, second and third offense! If you ask me… these should only be allowed for only one year… after which there should be no first, second or third offense because motorists should learn their lessons from their being caught!

* * *

One of the most awaited “gifts” that Cebu will be getting for supporting the Presidency of Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte is the up and coming Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project being pushed by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, which he revealed during the Convergence of MEGA Cebu Leaders meeting at the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADSC) last Friday morning, which I attended. Indeed, a Mass Transit system for Metro Cebu is the only way to rid ourselves of the seemingly unsolvable traffic problem of our growing metropolis.

Incidentally, Cebu City and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) will soon be implementing the P10-billion Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which was a mass transport system that should have been implemented during the Aquino regime. Unfortunately, the person tasked to handle this project had an ambition to become the general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MICAA), which he got for the six years under the Aquino Presidency. So the person assigned to explain the BRT to Pres. Aquino failed to convince the President to implement the BRT and so it was delayed during the entire six years of Pres. Aquino.

Also last Friday; Mayor Tomas Osmeña signed a memorandum of agreement with Philtram Transportation Consortium Inc. (PTCI) to study in the next six months a proposal for a monorail system for Cebu City. My question is who is Philtram Transportation Consortium or its co-founder Arnold Ray Alagar? I checked his name and company in Google and the only thing that comes out is the news story that was splashed in the local news media in Cebu. If Cebu City has to embark on a major mass transit project, we should get top foreign companies with years of experience in running subways or railways. Did Mayor Osmeña sign a memo with carpetbaggers?

* * *

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]