City to Deploy Traffic Enforcers at Night

Mayor Michael Rama ordered Cebu City traffic czar Rafael Christopher Yap to assign traffic enforcers at night in places where traffic are always busy. Rama said this is to avoid chaos in roads like in Fuente Osmeña rotunda and downtown areas of the city.

“We’re eyeing a 24/7 operations just like our disaster preparedness during rainy season,” Rama  told reporters Tuesday in his regular press conference hours after he met some members of the City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM).

Rama said the traffic enforcers who will be assigned during nighttime shall be augmented with police personnel, particularly those manning traffic along identified hot spots around the city.

CITOM executive director Rafael Yap said their office will do its best to follow the mayor’s recommendation despite their limitations. “If we have the proper resources, we will implement. As it is now, CITOM is currently short of personnel. We will try our best to accede to mayor’s wishes without hampering peak hour operations,” Yap told reporters.

CITOM has no final tally of total personnel as renewals have yet to be finalized but Yap said they had 275 enforcers and 145 parking aides before Rama’s first term ended last June.

Rama specified Colon street, Fuente Osmeña Circle, General Maxilom Avenue, Crossroads in barangay Kasambagan, and schools whose classes go beyond six in the evening, as the areas that authorities must focused their concern.

The proposal on strengthened law enforcement aimed at effective crime prevention came during the mayor’s first day of weeklong meeting with employees from executive department.