6 Utility Firms Sign Pact to Remove Dangling Wires, Rotting Poles

Six power and telecommunications companies have signed an agreement to fix or remove dangling wires and rotting poles in Cebu City that pose danger to the public.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama met Wednesday with representatives of the six utility firms after two persons were killed and three others were hurt in two cases involving utility poles and dangling wires in the city.

In both cases, the utility poles fell after dangling wires got snagged by passing trucks, hitting the victims.

Representatives from Bayantel, Skycable, Telicphil, Globe Telecom, Visayan Electric Company (Veco) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), a sister-company of Smart Communications and Sun Cellular, attended the meeting with Rama and signed the agreement.

Cebu City Administrator Lucelle Mercado and City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete, chairman of the technical infrastructure committee (TIC), signed for the city.

The representatives of the utility companies promised to comply with City Ordinance 1894, which addresses the problem of tangled wires, among others.

Earlier, Veco announced it will implement this year the PHP100-million second phase of its project to put all overhead power lines underground from the Fuente Osmena Circle to P. Del Rosario St., this city.

The first phase stretching from the Cebu Capitol to the Fuente Osmena Circle, which cost PHP80 million, was completed last year.(PNA) LAP/EB/PJN