A clear proof of Imperial Manila's stupidity!

If there was anything that Gov. Gwen F. Garcia missed in her SOPA, it is that she only revealed the income of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) that earned the Province some P47 million. But there’s more that has happened to that area when the CICC was placed in that part of Mandaue.

Gov. Gwen Garcia missed telling us that the biggest contribution of the CICC to the Province and the City of Mandaue is that the area around the CICC has now become a very highly-commercialized location. Parkmall is a huge commercial success, thanks to the presence of the CICC. That the Cebu Doctors University is now situated along the Mandaue Reclamation did not materialize during the incumbency of Mayor Jonas Cortes, but because the CICC made the Mandaue Reclamation area a very attractive business investment area. Now just try to quantify this in monetary terms!

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If there is any piece of news that never appears in western countries, it was the report the other day of The Freeman’s Fred Languido that the Land Transportation Office (LTO) has cancelled all the deputation orders to non-government organizations (NGO) and government employees including the Cebu City Traffic Office and Management (CITOM) that the LTO has deputized the help enforce traffic laws, but also the earn revenues for the transport office.

Are you shocked that this cancellation order signed by Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Assistant Secretary Arturo Lomibao last July 6 also included CITOM? This piece of news never gets reported in the US because in the first place, they do not use non-government organizations or government employees to help the LTO enforce traffic laws. There are around 400 such deputized LTO agents including Task Force Alpha and Delta in Cebu.

But because the Philippines is a 3rd world country and enforcement of our traffic laws are not exactly placed in the hands of professional traffic enforcers, they get numerous reports of abuse of those who use their LTO IDs either for “pasikat” or bribery!

But to show Imperial Manila’s stupidity, a mere Assistant Secretary has the power to grant or withhold this deputation order, which by the way last year, they also revoked the authority of the Cebu City Traffic Police to issue Temporary Operator’s Permits (TOP). I know that CITOM has already sought a motion to reconsider through LTO Regional Director Raul Aquilos, but it doesn’t mean to say that CITOM has become inutile.

The July 6 order only means that CITOM enforcers cannot confiscate the license of erring motorists. They can only use the blue traffic ticket allowed by the Cebu City Ordinance on Traffic Management. Meanwhile, all issuance of TOP’s after July 6 are deemed null and void. What does this mean to erring motorists, especially those jeepney and taxi drivers who don’t make it a habit to obey traffic rules? They go on a violation binge.

Why do I find Assistant Sec. Lomibao’s order totally stupid? In the first place, CITOM with more than 400 men and women working our streets have done LTO a great favor in increasing the revenue for their agency because the LTO Regional Office doesn’t have enough manpower to man our busy streets and apprehend traffic violators. There is a common saying, “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.” Well, Assistant Sec. Lomibao just cut off the hands that give money to the LTO. He may be correct in signing that order as far as NGOs or gov’t employees are concerned, but he was grossly misinformed about the work of CITOM’s traffic enforcers.

Again, this issue brings us to something that we as a nation should have fixed long ago, that a centralized form of government which is our present set up is no longer working for the benefit of our people. We’ve been writing a series on why we should make that paradigm shift to a Federal System of governance. This is one good example.A 3rd rate and obviously ignorant bureaucrat at the DOTC can just pull the plug on our traffic enforcement capabilities to confiscate the license of erring motorists.

Why a Federal System? First, if you ask the Cebu City Council or the Mandaue or Lapu-Lapu City Council to enact laws to confiscate the driver’s license of a traffic violator, those laws end up being null and void because only the LTO can issue such deputation order, which even the Traffic Police of the Philippine National Police (PNP) falls under. There is no question that the law giving vast powers to the LTO should have been amended in Congress. But then, what are our Congressmen doing? Enacting laws that allow for Dog Racing in Mandaue City as if this was the most important thing that Mandaue City needs! As a final reminder to motorists, you only have a privilege to drive our streets, it is not a right!

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