EDITORIAL - Traffic summit

Local officials and the private sector are finally acting on the worsening road situation around Metro Cebu as they scheduled for next month the first traffic summit that the local government unit of Cebu City is initiating.

During the summit, representatives from the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB)’s Mega Cebu, all LGUs under the MCDCB, Mall Operators Association, Cebu Contractors Association, Philippine National Police, Traffic Patrol Group, Land Transportation Office-7, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board-7, Department of Public Works and Highways-7, and Department of Trade and Industry will try to come up with ideas that will once and for all solve the traffic problem.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella admitted the event may not bear an automatic positive fruit. However, he is hopeful it will be the start of a coordinated approach to the problem that has been choking the metro for years.

“It’s a common knowledge to all of us that we have serious traffic problem in the city and the neighboring local governments. So, we will discuss possible ways so we can redress this traffic rules. There would be recommendations,” the mayor said.

Yes, it’s high time for all stakeholders – government and private sector – to pool their resources together and unite in coming up with an integrated remedy for the traffic crisis that has already been taking a heavy economic toll on Cebuanos.

We have to admit that years of individual approach to the problem has brought us nowhere. In fact, the worsening traffic problem has become the single biggest economic obstacle the metro is currently facing.

It is good that Cebu City, being Metro Cebu’s economic hub, is initiating the traffic summit. There is no other LGU that should spearhead this undertaking than Cebu City itself given the fact that it is the nerve center of the metro.

As Labella said: “This is really our sincere desire to help solve traffic. After all, Cebu City is the center of all of these LGUs. Vehicles will pass through the city. So, I think it is logical to start this. If we don’t start it, kinsa man, ug kanus-a pa man?”