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BY CAROLYN JANE ABELLO
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January 20, 2018
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Drivers threaten protest vs kiosks
ILOILO City – Drivers are demanding the removal of vendors’ kiosks that Mayor Jose Espinosa III allowed to occupy two lanes of the four-lane Plaza Rizal Street in Jaro district.
If the mayor won’t heed their call, the drivers would launch a protest, warned Raymundo Parcon, president of the Iloilo City Loop Alliance of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (ICLAJODA).
The kiosks were causing traffic congestion, according to Parcon.
Espinosa ordered the partial closure of Plaza Rizal Street for a month – from Jan. 8 to Feb. 8 – as part of the 2018 Jaro Agro-Industrial and Charity Fair to mark the annual Feb. 2 Jaro fiesta. Through an executive order, he allowed vendors to construct temporary kiosks on the street.
According to ICLAJODA, the mayor made a bad decision. Plaza Rizal Street is already “a traffic bottleneck even on ordinary days,” it stressed.
It is a major convergence point of vehicles, it pointed out to the mayor.
ICLAJODA did not say what form of protest its member drivers and operators would do if Espinosa won’t remove the kiosks and completely open Plaza Rizal Street.
In a letter to Espinosa, the group suggested that the kiosks be relocated to backroads within Jaro Plaza’s vicinity such as Arguelles Street, Libertad Street, Jalandoni Street or Burgos Street.
The traffic congestion is taking a heavy toll on the drivers’ daily income, according to ICLAJODA.
“Imagine mo nga halin sa 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. nga antos sa traffic,” said Parcon.
The 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. period is “rush hour” in Iloilo City.
“Kun indi maghulag si mayor, may ara gid kami nga himuon nga protesta,” said Parcon.
ICLAJODA is seeking a dialogue with Espinosa.
According to Parcon, not only drivers were complaining but passengers, too.
“Kis-a kun aga magskwela ko, gaka-late ko,” said a student who asked not to be identified, invoking his privacy.
City Administrator Hernando Galvez said the road closure has legal basis and cited the Local Government Code (Republic Act 7160).
Section 21 (c) of the Code reads: “Any national or local road, alley, park, or square may be temporarily closed during an actual emergency, or fiesta celebrations, public rallies, agricultural or industrial fairs, or an undertaking of public works and highways, telecommunications, and waterworks projects, the duration of which shall be specified by the local chief executive concerned in a written order: Provided, however, That no national or local road, alley, park, or square shall be temporarily closed for athletic, cultural, or civic activities not officially sponsored, recognized, or approved by the local government unit concerned.”
Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, however, were doubtful. On Tuesday, they refused to support a proposed ordinance that would have shored up Espinosa’s executive order.
Failing to get the backing of his colleagues, Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo was forced to withdraw his proposed ordinance “authorizing the temporary / partial closure of Jaro Plaza covering Rizal Street fronting the Jaro Cathedral and extending up to the corner of Lopez Jaena Street…”
In a previous interview, Espinosa said he ordered the partial closure of Plaza Rizal Street to accommodate vendors barred from doing business inside Jaro Plaza.
“As a mayor, give and take ka man. Indi ta sila pagpasudlon sa plaza mu. (Their doing business on Rizal Street is a) concession ta sa ila,” he explained.
If the mayor believes his executive order has legal basis, what’s the need for passing an ordinance for the road closure, asked Councilor Plaridel Nava.
If anything, Peñaredondo’s proposed ordinance was an afterthought to further bolster the mayor’s insistence that his executive order was legal, he said.
Councilor Joshua Alim, on the other hand, cited Department Order (DO) No. 73, series of 2014 issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways that reiterated Section 23 of Presidential Decree 17 (Revised Philippine Highway Act) declaring as unlawful the conversion of any part of a public highway, bridge, wharf or trail for private use or to obstruct the same in any manner.
The DO ordered the removal of “all obstructions and prohibited uses” along national roads and these included “all kinds of temporary and permanent structures such as buildings, shanties, houses, stores, shops, stalls, sheds, canopies, billboards, signages, advertisements, fences, walls, railings, basketball courts, barangay halls, garbage receptacles,” etc./PN
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