Will DILG remove tricycles from national roads?
It is with sad news that I must announce the passing of my first cousin, Ted Segura, the son of the late war hero, Col. Manuel F. Segura who passed away at the Perpetual Succour Hospital because of pneumonia. He is survived by his wife Christine. He was a month younger than me. Ted has always been my “kababata” as we grew up together. When Tio Manning and the entire family still lived along Gorordo Avenue it was always a fun time to visit them, after all, they lived next door to the Segura maternal home. One of the jobs I remember Ted handled was when he ran the Philippine Information Agency. He was also always a member of the Philippine Coast Guard auxiliary force. May we request our pious readers to please pray for the repose of his soul.
* * *
I read a recent report that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is reiterating its call to all city and municipal mayors to ban pedicabs and tricycles along national highways, whether in Metro Manila or in the provinces. Wow! Are they serious? Sure, ban them in urban centers like Metro Cebu or Metro Manila…but in the provinces too? While I fully agree that there has always been a law against tricycles or pedicabs being used on national roads, there has been no one implementing this law. In fact tricycles are the very reason why there is super traffic congestion in Minglanilla! So the question is, what happens to the LGUs that refuse to implement this law?
As DILG officer-in-charge, Secretary Eduardo M. Año said in a news report last Tuesday, “For safety reasons, no tricycle or pedicab should operate on national highways utilized by four-wheel vehicles greater than four tons and where normal speed exceeds 40 kilometers per hour.” Año also said that while the government recognizes that tricycle and pedicab operations provide livelihood and income to Filipinos, both in the urban center and rural areas, “allowing them on main thoroughfares poses hazards to other motor vehicles, the riding public, and even to the drivers themselves, therefore the regulation of tricycles and pedicabs on national highways is to the best interest of everyone.”
Under the Local Government Code, city and municipal mayors, through their respective councils, are authorized to regulate the operation of tricycles within their territorial jurisdiction, subject to the guidelines prescribed by the Department of Transportation. This only means that the local authorities must strictly adhere to the standards and guidelines provided by Memorandum Circular 2007-01, which contains the basic considerations in the preparation of city or municipal tricycle and pedicab franchise and regulatory ordinance or code.
At this point, I would like to see the DILG pounce on the cities of Makati, Manila, and many others in the nation’s capital. Here in Cebu City we only have a few tricycles, but none of these use the national roads. But the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, and Talisay have a huge problem regarding this. Let’s see if the DILG can impose their program on these LGUs. Then there are the tricycles of Carcar, Danao, Compostela, and Liloan. This is going to be interesting!
* * *
Here is something that happened during a Metro Cebu Development Projects meeting 25 years ago when then Mandaue City Mayor Alfredo Ouano demanded a bus terminal for Mandaue City and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to build one for Mandaue. When the bus terminal was completed, Mayor Ouano did not want to operate it, so Cebu City offered to run the terminal. So it was that way the so-called North Bus Terminal was operated by Cebu City in Mandaue City.
Then I read the news that the Cebu North Bus Terminal needs to be relocated somewhere after the Mandaue City government decided not to renew the lease contract of the lot it occupies in Barangay Subangdaku. So the million-peso question is, where should we relocate the North Bus Terminal, which serves at least 5,000 to 6,000 passengers from the northern towns daily? I understand that the Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association (CPBOA) is now in charge of operating the bus terminal. So now, CPBOA president Zosimo Jumao-as is seeking the help of the Cebu provincial government to provide them the needed relocation site. Abangan!
- Latest
