No solution to traffic from CCTO
We are still in our replay segment on Straight from the Sky and for tonight we bring you to the Holy Land on show that we did four-years ago. This segment was taken from Mt. Carmel, Caesarea, Church of the Visitation, and the Inner walls of Jerusalem. It was really a lot of fun shooting this show which we haven’t really replayed, especially the Port of Caesarea which was the headquarters of Pontius Pilate by the Mediterranean Sea. It was the Port that brought the Romans back to Rome.
So watch this very interesting show tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8:00PM with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00PM Monday and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.
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Since my kidney transplant last November 8, I have only been out twice for my doctors’ appointment and twice to have my blood sample extracted. Although I live very close to Cebu Doctors Hospital, crossing Escario Street has become a hassle. What the Cebu City Traffic Office is doing about this situation? That’s what I would like to know. Motorists have to suffer every single day. Mind you even on holidays, traffic is snarled in the area. Let me point out clearly that the job of CCTO is not just to man traffic, but also to find out ways to solve traffic mess.
Incidentally if you pass Juana Osmeña Street today, the old potholes have become big ones and when pothole that we already memorized their locations become bigger ones, it only tells you that the City of Cebu has neglected fixing this road. This is what happens with personality politics, where the fight for City Hall was between Team Rama or BOPK with no one promising our constituents what they intend to do when they win the mayoralty race.
During my stint as chairman of the Cebu City Traffic Office and Management, I assigned one motorcycle rider to collate information on the potholes along the road. Then I would ask the CITOM chairman, former councilor Gabby Leyson to provide asphalt to cover the potholes or if there is none at least cover them with anapog. Obviously this is not happening today and I dare say someone should not be paid their salaries for goofing off on the job!
Back in Escario Street, way back in 2000, we already predicted the traffic volume on that street. That is why we found a solution in the form of a parallel road to Escario Street, from Guadalupe all the way to the University of the Philippines in Lahug. Unfortunately the Department of Public Works and Highways did not give this project a hoot! During the six-year term of President PNoy Aquino, the National Economic Development Authority also did not care to help find solutions to our traffic mess.
Today, we are in an era of change under President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. But I learned from Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino that this road has not been funded for CY 2017! That means gentlemen and ladies of Cebu City, we shall continue to suffer the traffic snarls along Escario Street for the next two years! Frankly speaking, I have studied this route for a long time now and the parallel road to Escario Street is the only route that would solve the traffic along Escario Street.
I read somewhere that the Duterte administration is looking at linking Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao. But I have been to Matnog, Sorsogon and to Surigao Strait and the only way this can happen is via a tunnel under water. If far more cheaper to put in fastcraft that would take cars or trucks than build that infrastructure project. But building the parallel road to Escario Street only take money to be earmarked for this project. Alas, no one talked to President Duterte about the importance of this road!
Meanwhile, because of the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, the Department of Transportation and Department of Finance are mulling restructuring the excise tax on automobiles. DOTr spokesperson Cherie Mercado yesterday said Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III regularly coordinate, as the former supports the idea of putting an excise tax on vehicles.
Dominguez earlier said that under the DOF’s timetable, the proposed implementation of the excise tax on vehicles would start in 2018.
Honestly, I don’t think such a scheme would work. Metro Manila is simply overbuilt and overpopulated! If you stopped development in Metro Manila, then you will begin to decongest it. DOTr Assistant Secretary Mark Richmund de Leon said 75 percent of the vehicles using EDSA are private cars while 25 percent are public vehicles. If only the DOTr can come up with a scheme for private car owners to take the MRT or LRT, it just might help solve the problem of congestion. So some kind of incentives is needed to push this project to its fruition.
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