We needed flyovers yesterday! Why block it?

Cebu City is growing by leaps and bounds and with the so many new buildings sprouting here and there, the government must work faster to ensure that our streets won’t become parking lots when traffic grinds to a halt. Years ago, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) came up with various ways to prevent more gridlocks in busy intersections through flyovers. Few people know that in Traffic Management there are three Es: Education, Engineering and Enforcement.

There is no doubt that the government has miserably failed on all these three things. Today I haven’t heard anyone doing anything to educate our motorists (including enforcers) many of whom believe that street markings are mere road decorations rather than traffic aids. For instance, if you as much as touched a double-yellow in any street in the USA, it is a guarantee that a traffic patrol will soon be right behind you to stop you. Here in Cebu, you can step, cross or even make a U-turn on a double yellow line because the motorists don’t know what it’s for; worse, there are no traffic cops around to stop them! This is why traffic in Metro Cebu is so chaotic!

It gets much worse when you talk about pedestrians who cross anywhere whenever they want to cross. Way back in the mid-80s a group of Cebu journalists led by our dear friend and publisher Juanito Jabat went to visit then Ambassador Frank Benedicto in Singapore. We found out that Singaporeans are so disciplined, they cross at the pedestrian walks, not because they are disciplined, but rather because the Singapore Traffic group literally put fences on the middle of the road and on the sidewalks. We tried to emulate that in the 90s in Mango Ave. were we used to have railings in the sidewalks, but alas the city government has removed them.

Now comes the Engineering part. I gathered that my good friend CITOM Chief Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem wanted to follow the resolution done by the late CITOM Chairman Jing-Jing Osmeña, that there should be no new flyovers constructed until and unless the DPWH solves the flyover along Archbishop Reyes Ave. Let me tell Jack Jakosalem that he should abandon this thought as we cannot hostage our future projects with the DPWH just because of an unfinished one as we Cebuanos will be the ones to suffer!

Enter again my good friend Bunny Pages of that so-called Metro Cebu Traffic Council (MCTC) questioning the use of flyovers. I don’t know why Bunny hates flyovers, but whether he likes it or not, it works! Bunny is a “Johnny-come-lately” in Traffic Management, hence he has no idea that the DPWH already had plans for flyovers in Cebu, most of them from the budget of then Rep. Raul del Mar, now under Rep. Cutie del Mar. I have seen these plans years back and it is only now that they are implementing it. So why are our traffic authorities blocking it? I suggest that Bunny and his group sit down with the DPWH so that they could be briefed for the flyovers that were already planned long before they came into the traffic management scene.

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We just got reports of people jumping from a skywalk and a woman jumping from the Fernan Bridge, which may seem like unimportant news. However, it tells me that there’s just no security people manning these government infrastructure. One can just imagine that if a woman had all the grand time to climb up the Fernan Bridge without anyone stopping her so she could eventually jump, it makes me wonder what terrorists could do? I recall that at the top of the Fernan Bridge, there was once a police outpost. What ever happened to it?

During my stint as Chairman of the Regional Development Council’s (RDC) Infrastructure Utilities Council (IUC) we created the Mactan Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) for the purpose of keeping tabs on the two bridges that span the Mactan Channel between Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City. These two bridges contributed to the economy of Cebu as it allowed the old Mactan airfield to develop into the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA).

Security for the two bridges is vital to the economy of Cebu. This is why I’m appalled that if a woman or anyone for that matter could walk to the bridge and do her thing, what’s stopping terrorists from planting bombs and blowing up the bridge in order to damage the economy of Cebu? From this report, one can conclude that the Philippine National Police (PNP) have failed to secure the Mactan Bridge. How much funds does the PNP need to secure our bridges? Compare that to the humongous cost in reconstructing a damaged bridge. I think this is something for the MCBMB should look into seriously. Lest they have already forgotten, this coming September is the 10th year of the infamous 9/11, which could also happen here.

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