Dialogue for proposed road sharing today

CEBU, Philippines - Environmentalists, transport leaders and other concerned sectors will sit in a dialogue with the Cebu City government today on the proposed road sharing policy.

Romeo Armamento, national vice president of the National Confederation of Transport Workers Union, said the transport sector should be a part in any development in the city.

“Kung naay mga development sa usa ka lugar pananglitan, the transport sector as the economic driver, should also be informed,” Armamento said.

It can be recalled that some Cebu environmental lawyers, members of the youth sector and other environmental groups filed a petition before the Supreme Court for the government to implement the road-sharing policy and to implement some environmental laws.

A petition for a Writ of Kalikasan (Nature) was filed so that the government will divide roads into two. One half will be for motorized public and private transportation while the other is for non-motorized vehicles and for safe, wide, covered sidewalks, edible gardens and all-weather bike lanes.

The petition cited a World Bank and a Government statistical study that only two percent of Filipinos own motor vehicles, yet practically all of the roads are given to motor vehicles. The rest of the population, the 98 percent, is not even given proper space for them to walk or bike in.

A loosely-organized initiative of young people, the Philippines’ Share-the-Roads Movement is advocating for safer, cleaner, and more reliable roads for the transportation of people, not for machines and motor vehicles. — (FREEMAN)