Luigi files bill creating Metro Cebu traffic body

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu sixth district Representative Gabriel Luis Quisumbing is pushing for the creation of a lone traffic management body for the entire Metro Cebu.

Yesterday, Quisumbing filed in Congress House Bill 5556, or “An Act Creating the Metro Cebu Traffic Management Authority (MCTMA), Defining its Power and Functions, Providing Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes.”

In the bill’s explanatory note, Quisumbing mentioned the traffic situation in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, which he said is made worse by ongoing being undertaken in preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference August this year and the International Eucharistic Congress scheduled in 2016.

Quisumbing further said Cebu’s population has steadily grown from 2000 to 2010 at an annual rate of 2.19 percent. He said that at this rate, Cebu’s 4.17 million population in 2010 is expected to reach 4.64 million this year and 5.18 million by 2020.

Cebu’s business and population growth, he said, makes the need to address its traffic woes an urgent matter.

In 2013, Cebu City north district Representative Raul del Mar filed HB 372, or “An Act Creating the Metro Cebu Traffic Authority, Defining its Powers and Functions, Providing Funds Therefor and for other Purposes.”

But the bill has remained pending at the House Committee on Transportation. Quisumbing said he hopes HB 5556 would “get the ball rolling again” as it complements that of del Mar.

“Our bill seeks to create the Metro Cebu Traffic Management Authority centrally focused on planning and identification of traffic problems and coordinating with the local government units of Metro Cebu for the formulation of programs and projects to be included in a traffic management master plan,” Quisumbing said.

“We hope to formulate an efficient system in implementing measures to ease traffic congestion and ultimately ensure the safe and fast transport of people and products from one destination to another in the Province of Cebu,” he added.

He identified the local government units included in Metro Cebu as the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, Talisay, Naga, Cebu, and Carcar and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, Minglanilla and San Fernando and other cities and municipalities in Cebu province as may later be included by the MCTMA.

Quisumbing said that once MCTMA is created, its powers and functions would include the preparation of immediate, medium, and long–term traffic  management plans; coordination and monitoring of existing transport operations, infrastructure requirement, and projects “to rationalize the use of roads and highways in the in the identification of bottlenecks and solutions.”

The MCTMA would also establish an effective mass transportation system and the administration and implementation of all traffic enforcement operations, including personnel training and deployment for the purpose of instituting a single-ticketing system in Metro Cebu.

In pursuing its mandate, MCTMA is to consult and work closely with concerned LGUs on the formulation of the traffic management master plan and in the implementation of projects addressing traffic concerns in Metro Cebu.

 As proposed, MCTMA would be administered by a board of directors under the Office of the President and should be assisted by a Secretariat. The board would be comprised by a person appointed by the president as chairman, who would have privileges similar to that of a cabinet member); the Cebu governor and Cebu City mayor as co-chairmen; and the mayors of the remaining Metro Cebu LGUs would serve as members of the board.

The heads of the Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Tourism, Department of Budget and Management, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Committee (HUDCC), and the Philippine National Police or their duly authorized representatives, will attend MCTMA board meetings as non-voting members. — (FREEMAN)