QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista is supporting the centralization of traffic management in Metro Manila.
He said he is squarely behind plans to centralize traffic management in one body, saying having a single body to plan routes and enforce road rules would improve command, control and coordination in the metropolis and the rest of the country.
“Traffic is an offshoot of myriad problems and interlocking concerns that cannot just be solved by deploying more traffic enforcers. The buck has to stop with only one central traffic authority to avoid agencies and local government units pointing fingers at one another,” Bautista said.
President Rodrigo Duterte is also set to sign an executive order vesting all authority in managing and enforcing traffic to the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic.
The reinvigorated IACT, which used to be a coordinating body under the Department of Transportation, shall be vested with law enforcement authority via the presidential order.
The jurisdiction of the new IACT will also be expanded to include the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
The council shall be composed of the DoTr, Department of Public Works and Highways, Metro Manila Development Authority, Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group, and the local governments concerned.
“We are thankful to the DoTr and the MMDA for pushing this measure. It’s not a sure-fire solution to Metro Manila’s traffic problem, but we see the move as having better chances of succeeding,” Bautista said.
Meanwhile, the 36-member Quezon City Council gave Bautista the green light to sign deeds of donations for 11 public senior high schools in the city’s first district.
District 1 Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr. authored City Resolution 7130, authorizing Bautista to donate 11 32-inch LED monitor televisions, sound systems with mixers, and DLP professional projectors with screens purchased through the initiative of another District 1 councilor, Anthony Peter “Onyx” Crisologo.
Those to benefit are the Ernesto Rondon High School, San Francisco High School, Quezon City Science High School, Pugad Lawin High School, Judge Juan Luna High School, Sergio Osmena Sr. High School, Masambong High School, Balingasa High School, San Jose High School, NOH-School for Crippled Children and E. Rodriguez Jr. High School.
The items will be delivered to the schools so the city-owned properties can be used by the recipients without cost, the resolution noted.
“All these donated items constitute a means by which the receiving schools can adequately provide, if not improve, the quality of education and services the said schools render their students,” Bautista said.