Talisay SP sets up special traffic body

CEBU, Philippines - Aimed at putting order in the city's busy streets, the Talisay City council has formed a special body called City of Talisay Traffic Operations and Development Authority (CT-TODA).

During the regular session last Tuesday, the council approved on third and final reading Proposed Ordinance No. 2010-2-1 or a law creating CT-TODA and defining its powers and functions.

This new body has replaced and incorporated some salient points of the Talisay Traffic Management Council of the then municipality of Talisay and the Talisay Traffic Commission which was created in 2000.

"That due to the perpetual and expanding needs for services in the city, the City of Talisay Traffic Operations and Development Authority shall perform traffic operations and transport management, planning, monitoring and coordinative functions, and in the process exercise regulatory and supervisory authority over city-wide services that affect the entire thoroughfares in the city," read a portion for Section 2 of the newly approved ordinance.

Apart from the special body tasked to monitor and regulate the city's traffic-related issues, the body also makes "preparation of medium and long-term thoroughfare expansion and drainage development plans," which the city is currently lacking of.

The body will be headed by Vice Mayor Alan Bucao, being head of the council committee on Public Order, Safety, Traffic Management and Public Utilities. The vice chairman will be appointed by the mayor.

Among those who will comprise the team are members of the council committee on Public Order, Safety, Traffic Management and Public Utilities; chief of police, city's Land Transportation Office chief, Department of Public Works and Highways 2nd Engineering District representative; and the Association of Barangay Councils President.

Under this new law, the CT-TODA officials are scheduled to meet twice a month, every Thursday or on special meetings called by the chairman "at anytime and day."

 Section 9 of this new city law also provides for "honorarium" to the officers of this body at P2,000 each every time they meet.

An initial budget of P1 million has also been approved for this CT-TODA to start its operation.

This new law, which was authored by Bucao, was approved on third and final reading on motion of Councilor Richard Francis F. Aznar, chairman on council committee on Laws.

"The City of Talisay is growing fast as a city and this is due to the high volume and influx of permanent, working and transient residents.

As a potent market for capitalists, businesses and industries crop up like mushrooms around the city, and the demand for transportation and development likewise rocketed, and to properly plan, monitor, manage and regulate these fast demands and needs, a special body is hereby created," read a part of the resolution adopting the said new ordinance.   —(FREEMAN NEWS)