A proposed law designed to ease traffic in Dumaguete City, among other reasons, appears headed for the trash can. This possibility came about after tricycle drivers and operators took turns in criticizing the proposal in a very one-sided two-day public hearing last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Lamberto Macias Sports and Cultural Center.
In that gathering, tricycle drivers objected to the proposal to prevent them from plying the streets every other day. Most of them said the proposed Ordinance was anti-poor. They also said that the City Council is actually looking the wrong way. They said that the number of tricycles has not increased for the past several years which has been pegged at 2,500 units.
They said that on the contrary, there is no limit to the number of private vehicles plying the streets. If there should be someone to blame for Dumaguete’s Traffic, it should be the private vehicle owners, they said.
Others were more conciliatory by saying that while they are willing to contribute to easing the City’s traffic, everyone should share the blame with no exemptions.
And while the 2,500 voters (and their families) that comprise the tricycle industry were applauding anyone who raised points against the proposed Ordinance, Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria scored ‘pogi points’ by declaring that he would veto the Ordinance, if it passed the City Council.
At the end of the two-day hearing, Councilor Dan Leon, the author of the Ordinance, saw the futility of the exercise and said it would be “political suicide” to do so.
But Vice Mayor Alan Gel Cordova thought the public hearing was done in haste. He said that the Council should first have conducted studies to show what is the real cause of traffic in Dumaguete. The Council should also have conducted a study to show the tricycle drivers if, indeed, their incomes would double because of this scheme, as had been proven in Puerto Princesa in Palawan since 2004.
It seemed, the Vice Mayor said, that everyone was discussing about the law from the emotional point of view instead of the logical or scientific way.
Well, the Council may hopefully have learned its lesson on how to conduct a public hearing.
Perhaps, next time, they can come better prepared.
