Peña cancels traffic enforcers’ leaves, imposes 4-day truck ban

Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña has implemented a four-day truck ban, starting today until Sunday, as part of the measures to prevent a massive traffic gridlock similar to last Saturday’s situation.

Motorists and commuters are expected to abound this weekend, ahead of the New Year’s Day celebration.

Peña also cancelled all leaves of personnel of the Minglanilla Traffic Commission (MitCom) until Dec. 31 to ensure that traffic in the municipality is properly managed.

Peña’s moves were in response to last Saturday’s incident where motorists and commuters found themselves stuck for seven to 10 hours on the road due to heavy traffic, aggravated by four road accidents on that day.

Peña told SunStar Cebu that he met with MitCom’s 36 traffic enforcers and reprimanded them for what happened.

The mayor said that the traffic enforcers were supposed to have their Christmas party last Saturday, but decided to postpone it because of the 10-hour gridlock.

Peña issued the clarification following earlier reports that the MitCom personnel were cel- ebrating their Christmas party that day. “Niduty man sila pero wala sila ka-anticipate sa grabeng trapik atong adlawa (They were on duty but didn’t anticipate the extra traffic on that day),” said Peña.

The mayor said that Minglanilla has become a chokepoint due to the massive influx of vehicles going to southern Cebu.

Peña said he warned the MitCom to do their job properly or find themselves jobless.

On the implementation of the truck ban, Peña said that from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., trucks owned by the town’s big estab- lishments will not be allowed to ply major thoroughfares. Included in the ban are the three malls situated in the town proper, a softdrink company operating in Barangay Calajoan, and factories in Barangays Tungkil, Tulay and Calajoan.

Peña also urged the National Government to start the construction of the proposed bypass road from the City of Naga to Talisay City. The bypass road, which is estimated to cost P16 billion, is seen to help decongest traffic on the national highway in Cebu’s southern parts. /