No traffic problem in Bacolod City?!
Iwas stunned hearing pronouncements claiming traffic is not a problem in Bacolod City – Wow! What kind of propaganda is that? Even our Badjao friends know traffic in the city is getting worse.
This column has been objective in its opinion of how the current city administration is dealing with the traffic problem and it’s surprising to see there is nobody capable of solving the traffic woes. Now, the issue requires the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to come and tell the city what to do?
Simply put, everybody living in Bacolod City knows it is the ineffective implementation of city ordinances, such as restrictions on sidewalk vendors, which contribute to congestion in and around the downtown area. The solution is in the hands of the local government unit; if City Hall implements the law, including barring pedicabs and tricycles from main thoroughfares and removing illegal structures along the side of the road, maneuvering city streets would become easier.
However, it’s a big “if.”
The city doesn’t need the MMDA, especially when they are unable to solve the problems impacting their jurisdiction. They claim the streets are wide and the traffic situation is better, but it is based on a comparison to Metro Manila. Let them stay for a month and really experience the downtown area – sure, the situation is better than Manila – but city residents know the problem lies in inaction.
Bacolod City needs leadership willing to implement and execute the law. Unfortunately, nobody has that courage.
Yes, the city has wider roads but who occupies them? Illegal structures, vulcanizing shops, fishball carts, makeshift carenderias, and tricycle/pedicab paradahan – and nobody in City Hall cares, they merely tolerate it (for whatever reason).
If the local government is serious in getting rid of such eyesores (and not just because they are eyesores but they are not supposed to be there in the first place) then the old adage still rings true today; “The streets are beyond the commerce of man.”/WDJ