EDITORIAL — Standard uniform, standard name

There is now a proposal from a city councilor to standardize the uniform for Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) personnel because, as it stands right now, traffic personnel are confused with city employees from other offices.

“Usahay magtuo ka nga mga taga PROBE (Prevention Restoration Order Beautification Enhancement) ni sila, ang uban natong mga CCTO personnel kay parehas sila og unirporme, usahay nag technicolor pa, usahay naa pay RMA,” said Councilor Pastor Alcover.

Because the city’s budget to print uniforms for newly-hired traffic enforcers ran out, the new hires resorted to printing their own “uniforms”. And they practically had a free hand in it; they used whatever design as long as the CCTO logo was there.

But, like Alcover said, sometimes the old Road Management Authority logo was used.

Because of the many different designs, now drivers and motorists sometimes cannot tell between legit traffic personnel and motorcycle-for-hire drivers who like wearing sublimated-design uniforms of their own.

Yes, there is a need to set a standard uniform for traffic personnel. One that shouldn’t change with each new administration. Not only should the uniforms be standard, they should be in a bright color or colors so traffic personnel can easily be seen.

Along this line of thinking it would also probably be best to institutionalize the name of the city’s traffic body. It has changed several times with several administrations, and many people get confused and still call it by its old names.

From the City Integrated Traffic Office Management (CITOM) to the Cebu City Transportation Office it was again changed to Road Management Authority before being changed back to CCTO --although we think the T in CCTO should stand for Traffic and not Transportation.

The changes for the names can involve politics. A previous administration didn’t like CITOM because it was linked to former mayor Tomas Osmeña, then RMA was thumbed down allegedly because it sounded too much like the name of former mayor Michael Rama, and so on.

Perhaps it’s time for a non-partisan name that will truly reflect what the office does, something that cannot be changed by each incoming administration.