Holiday declaration instead: No more coding for APEC traffic

CEBU, Philippines - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Cebu organizing committee is no longer keen on adopting a color-coding scheme to manage traffic during the Apec meetings scheduled next month.

LTO-7 Acting Director Arnel Tancinco said such a system would take time to process considering the huge number of public utility jeepneys and the need for the people to familiarize the codes.

“We cannot identify how many (have plate numbers ending with) odd, even (numbers), and what kind of colors are available on the ground,” he said during the Cebu organizing committee full council meeting yesterday.

Tancinco heads the traffic management site task group under the APEC security sub-committee.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III, who heads the local organizing committee, agreed with Tancinco, saying adopting the color-coding scheme now would only create confusion.

Instead, the governor is pushing for the declaration of holidays during the peak days of the APEC meetings, or during the senior officials’ meetings set in September 4.

He said this would be a better way to prevent APEC delegates from getting caught in a traffic snarl-up.

“But we have to secure clearance from Manila, (the) Office of the President maybe, to declare a holiday. Ato pa nang tan-awon unsa nga dates,” he told reporters after the meeting.

Cebu City Traffic Operations Management Executive Director Lawyer Rafael Yap, however, said a holiday declaration may not be necessary.

“We have confidence na man with our traffic management even without the holiday, but it (holiday) will greatly assist (us). We are confident in our plan. We are 90 percent ready,” he said.

Yap said they are just firming up with their dry run schedule for the traffic scheme to be implemented during the APEC meetings.

Tancinco said there is a possibility for a temporary closure of roads leading to the venues of the APEC meetings.

The meeting venues and billeting centers of delegates are the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel-Cebu, and Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa.

Tancinco, however, said implementation of road closure and rerouting would already depend on the local government units concerned.

“But based on the initial plans, there is possibility nga certain time sa activity isira gyod siya because of security factors. But it will not be a whole day closure,” he said.

He added that traffic plans of the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Cebu and Mandaue would be presented next week. — Michael Vencynth   H. Braga/RHM (FREEMAN)