Council asks CCTO to buy sound meter

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has requested the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) to allocate a considerable amount from its 2021 annual budget for the procurement of portable sound-level meter devices.

A sound-level meter is a device for measuring the intensity of noise, music, and other sounds.

A typical meter consists of a microphone for picking up the sound and converting it into an electrical signal, followed by electronic circuitry for operating on this signal so that the desired characteristics can be measured.

A resolution, authored by Councilor James Anthony Cuenco, on the matter was recently approved by the City Council.

Cuenco said the Committee on Transportation, which he chairs, has received a number of complaints and requests from concerned parents, particularly citing vehicular noise as distractions to the focus of their children while home-schooling.

“These complaints stems from the unscrupulous usage of PUBs (public utility buses) - equipped with power horns that, by usual standards, produce sound levels beyond 40 decibels,” said Cuenco.

In the event that CCTO lacks the necessary funds, the City Council requested the Office of the Mayor to allocate a considerable amount chargeable to any appropriate account in its 2021 approved budget for the procurement of sufficient number of portable sound-level meter devices.

Further, the council urged all PUB operators, through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-Regional Franchising and Regulatory Office VII (LTFRB-RFRO 7), to prohibit the use and/or to uninstall all power horns and similar devices in compliance to City Ordinance No. 309, as amended by CO 1887, in the meantime that the city government has yet to procure the sound-level meter devices.

The city’s anti-noise ordinance, which was first enacted on October 31, 1960, and amended thru City Ordinance 1887 prohibits the use of gadgets that emit exceptionally loud and startling sounds. It is also prohibited under the Presidential Decree No. 96.

The ordinance defines a loud or startling sound as one that exceeds 40 decibels.

“In order to properly enforce CO 309, as amended by CO 1887, there is a need to equip the Traffic Enforcers of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) with sound-level meter devices to measure the decibels produced by all PUBs operating in the city, to apprehend and penalize the violators,” said Cuenco. — FPL (FREEMAN)