When we drove to Naga City last Friday for the inauguration and blessing (and the 60th birthday of my good friend, CEO Antonio "Jim Jim" Chiu) of the Anilson Packaging Solutions, Inc. we passed the South Road Properties. Since it was my daughter driving the car, I took the time to use my iPhone to shoot photos of trucks and vehicles in the SRP. Whenever I pass by the SRP, the scenario is always the same; slow-moving vehicles use the leftmost lane, while vehicles who want to overtake the slow vehicles use the rightmost lane. The SRP has been open to the public since I was still CITOM chairman 12 years ago.
If there is anything Mayor Tomas Osmeña is always proud of and always brags about, it is the SRP. But let me say it here that he couldn't have pushed for the SRP without former president Gloria Arroyo who also listened to her press secretary, the late Cerge M. Remonde who also pushed for the construction of the SRP. But in the dozen years that the SRP has been open to motorists, the way Cebuano motorists drive in this six-lane road, which is similar to Germany's autobahn, they always drive on the wrong side of the road and the reason for this is simply that there is no enforcement of traffic rules at the SRP.
I recall that when the SRP opened we had a dedicated pickup truck painted in black emblazoned with the sign SRP Patrol. Apparently that patrol vehicle was merely for show. I dare you stop your car by the roadside and observe how motorists drive and yes, even the people in Manila would laugh at us. Yes, because Manila has the North Luzon Exchange and the South Luzon Exchange, which is an eight-lane road, and if you are caught driving slowly in the leftmost lane you will surely get a traffic ticket. But not in SRP. You can drive at the leftmost lane as show as you want in your truck and no one will stop you!
We all know that enforcement means giving the erring traffic violator a ticket and that would educate him about traffic rules. Obviously with the way motorists are driving at the SRP, it only proves that we have zero enforcement there. But the last time I read in the news about the plans of Mayor Osmeña in the SRP, he wanted the traffic enforcers to have a radar gun in order to catch speeding vehicles. However before he does this he must first put a huge sign or an arch right after you exit the tunnel that gives directions to motorists that the leftmost lane is for overtaking vehicles, while the rightmost lane is for slow-moving vehicles.
I dare say that it is high time for Cebu City to get serious in enforcement of traffic rules at the SRP. Mind you, motorists in Manila are also an unruly lot' but whenever they go to Clark Air Base or Subic Bay, you will see how these unruly motorist suddenly become obedient to the traffic rules in Subic simply because their traffic enforcers implement their traffic rules which is very similar to the traffic rules in many cities in the USA! Like in the USA, they have stiff fines or penalties for traffic violators, which could increase your motor vehicle insurance when you have violated a traffic regulation.
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There is a growing serious debate happening in many coffeehouses all over the Philippines on the issue whether the Philippine National Police should send erring cops to dangerous places like Marawi City or Sulu so they can be exposed to what one would call dangerous duty. Frankly speaking, this has been a longtime tradition since the days of the Philippine Constabulary where erring cops are often sent to Timbuktu, which meant faraway places in the hope that it would allow them to shape up.
While I do agree that doing this would teach those erring cops a bitter lesson, however the fight for Marawi is a serious one. You just cannot send cops without any knowledge on urban warfare to go to Marawi and fight those Maute snipers; you might just as well send them to their deaths!
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