Happy New Year!
We had a pretty good start of the year at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Talisay City yesterday morning as it took us only about 30 minutes to renew the registration of a vehicle.
Considering that it was the first work day of the year, the personnel were very accommodating and there was a smooth flow of transactions.
We’re sure we were not the only happy person transacting business yesterday and we surely hope that what good work we saw would be there all throughout the year.
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Traffic during the holidays was bad and if you live in Cebu and think you just saw the end of horrendous traffic, you’re very wrong.
With the Sinulog celebration set on January 15, which is the 3rd Sunday of the month, there are many activities lined up and we will be experiencing traffic jams worse than during the Christmas holidays.
We had a chance to talk to CITOM Chairman Jack Jakosalem late yesterday morning and asked him if the traffic body collects any amount from event organizers so traffic law enforcers can be assigned.
He said that former City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva explained to him that part of the money that the treasurer’s office collects from events goes to peace and order and traffic.
Unfortunately, organizers are not obliged to inform CITOM of their activities as it is not required. Jack said that the CITOM Board, during it’s regular Monday meetings, try to come up with a list of events for the week so they can assign personnel to the area.
With the Sinulog coming, we expect parties to be held in many places around the city. We hope that the organizers will be intelligent enough to inform CITOM of their activities. You don’t have to pay extra as it is already covered by what you pay the city treasurer.
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With the number of events set this month, it will be hard to keep count and to remember what is happening when and where and most especially what roads would be closed at what time of the day.
We suggest that signs be put on the roads that would be closed a few days before they would reroute traffic to forewarn motorists. It is important that the notices be readable also.
In the past years, traffic during the solemn procession one day before the grand parade, have also been the subject of many complaints.
We know the authorities are thinking hard how to address this so we don’t really need to suggest what you ought to be doing as you already know what should be done.
We just hope that you would do it.
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You can also send email to nimrod@mozcom.com.