What works in one city may not necessarily apply in Dumaguete.
A proposed Alternate Day Traffic Scheme for tricycles, proposed by Councilor Dan Leon was met with objections by Dumaguete tricycle drivers and operators during a two-day public hearing last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Lamberto Macias Sports and Cultural Center.
The proposed Ordinance, co-authored by Vice Mayor Alan Cordova and Councilors Frankin Esmena Jr., Erwin Macias and Jayvee Imbo, aims to: decongest the volume of traffic daily in the city, provide safe and efficient flow of traffic, to regulate the public utility vehicles needed to transport commuters, to improve the income of MCH drivers, to reduce carbon emissions, and to ensure the safety of pedestrians and commuters.
The proposed law will divide the City’s 2,500 tricycles in two groups and these groups will be allowed to do business on alternate days for a total of only four days per week. All tricycles will be allowed to do business on Sundays.
“This Ordinance has been implemented in Puerto Princesa City since 2004 and it has succeeded in decongesting traffic there and also increased the income of tricycle drivers,” Leon said.
But the tricycle drivers and operators questioned the law’s partiality against tricycles, saying they are not the cause of traffic in Dumaguete.
“The number of tricycles in Dumaguete has not increased. It has always been at 2,500 units in the last several years,” said Jeffrey Alpeche, a tricycle operator. “In contrast, the number of four-wheeled vehicles and motorcycles has been on the rise,” he continued.
In an earlier interview, Dumaguete City LTO Chief Roland Ramos said that an average of 57 motorcycles were registered every day in Dumaguete last year.
Tricycle drivers denounced the proposed law as “anti-poor.” Roberto Remolano, another
operator, said that if the aim of the law is to decongest traffic, everyone should share the inconvenience and not just poor tricycle drivers. Remolano received applause from his other operators and drivers after he said that the ordinance should not only cover motorcabs for hire but also include private vehicles who also contribute to air pollution and traffic congestion.
They also said reducing the number of tricycles is not a guarantee that their income will double. “That would only be true if all the passengers were going in the same direction,” Alpeche said.
Most of the concerned drivers who attended the public hearing agreed that the government should first identify the traffic problem and provide a solution without affecting their income and their livelihood. According to them, they cannot provide the basic needs of their family if they do not earn daily.
Dumaguete Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagabarria, who attended the public hearing, assured the drivers that he would veto the Ordinance if the City Council insisted on passing the law. “If you don’t think it will work for your benefit, then we will not pass the law. But if the City Council passes this proposed Ordinance, I will veto it,” he said to the applause from the gallery.
Councilor Leon, on the other hand, said if the tricycle drivers and operators are against the Ordinance, they will not push through with it. “It would be political suicide to insist on passing this law,” Leon said.
Vice Mayor Cordova, in a later interview with reporters, lamented the pronouncement of the Mayor, saying Sagarbarria should have allowed the City Council to do what it is supposed to do before announcing that he will exercise his veto powers. “This is the nature of participatory governance, where everyone takes part in crafting the Ordinance. If you do not allow the City Council to do its job, how can you expect dynamism in the City?” Cordova said. (Donita Bemida, Angeline Nabua, Maria Lourdes M. Barte and Ma. Joanna Rieza Pareja, SU Masscom interns)
