KABANHAWAN FESTIVAL CAUSES 2-HR. TRAFFIC
Capitol suggests to local officials that next year they should hold festival away from national highway
The Cebu Provincial Government wants Minglanilla’s local officials to conduct religious and cultural activities related to their annual Sugat Kabanhawan Festival away from the national highway next year.
This after the town experienced a two-hour traffic jam on the national highway yesterday due to street dancing related to the annual festival.
But Jonathan Tumulak, Cebu Provincial focal person for traffic management, said that the twohour traffic jam felt in the town yesterday was not as grueling as the “carmageddon” last December, which lasted more than seven hours.
Baltazar Tribunalo, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), told Sunstar Cebu that he plans to talk to Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Pena and Gov. Hilario Davide III about his recommendation.
Tribunalo said his recommendation is based on a short-term risk assessment conducted while he and Tumulak were in Minglanilla to help the town manage its traffic.
Tribunalo said that while the festivities were integral to Minglanilla’s culture, local officials must consider the effects of their activities on the public.
“Kung atong tan-awon, pwede man ta maglipay. Pero usahay, atong i-consider ang kinatibuk-an nga mga manakayay (While we should celebrate, sometimes we have to think of other people),” Tribunalo said.
He also recommended to local officials a continuous close coordination with other cities and towns in the first district of Cebu to ensure that traffic in one area does not spill over to other areas.
For the long term, Tribunalo recommended to the town and to the governor to develop additional roads, particularly in Minglanilla’s upland areas, which will serve as alternative routes.
Still, Tumulak praised the LGU for handling the traffic yesterday.
Tumulak said that despite the LGU’s advisory to close the road to traffic starting at 2 p.m., he recommended to the Minglanilla Traffic Command to close only parts of the national highway while festival contingents were preparing.
Once all was set, traffic personnel led by Tumulak temporarily closed the national highway at 4 p.m. and sent all traffic to the designated diversion road from Barangay Calajoan to Tungkop.
Tumulak said that even though the street dancing was still ongoing, vehicles that were already in the national highway were slowly allowed to proceed.