ILOILO City – Amid the poor satisfaction rating of its traffic management, the city government assured the public that it will continue to find ways to improve its traffic management system.
Based on the result of the opinion survey commissioned by Mayor Jerry P. Treñas himself regarding the various social services of the city, the traffic management got a low net satisfaction rating of -12 percent.
“Our traffic management got -12 percent… In the meantime, we will do our best to address these issues which were identified by our constituents,” said Treñas.
He noted that the retraining of Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) personnel, employment of experts and coordination with Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for training are among the actions to be carried out.
Item No. 4 of the opinion survey conducted by the Random Access Consultancy Inc. (RACI) asked 300 18-year-old and above respondents/city residents: “Kontento ka bala sa pagdumala sang traffic sa Iloilo City?”
The result showed that 0.7 percent were ‘tama ka kuntento’ (very contented); 41.3 percent were ‘kontento’ (contented); 4.0 percent ‘wala opinyon’ (have no opinion); 41.0 percent were ‘indi kuntento’ (not contented); and 13.0 percent were ‘diskontento gid’ (very not contented).
Despite this, Treñas expressed his appreciation of the efforts exerted by the city’s traffic aides.
“The survey results give us an opening to do better. In Iloilo city we do not enjoy pointing fingers. We come up with better services to satisfy our people. We always try to do better. Just like ‘BDO, we find ways,’” Treñas said.
He also opined that one of the possible reasons for the extremely low score of the traffic management office is the Ungka flyover.
But he stressed that the flyover is mostly under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Pavia while the jurisdiction of Iloilo City is only up to the approach of the flyover after Christ the King Memorial Park.
The city mayor added that the PSTMO headed by Jeck Conlu must show their presence at all times – assist in the traffic and not only to apprehend, be at the center of the streets and not along the sidewalks, and show dedication to work and to the Ilonggo community.
“We understand the difficulty of the work of traffic aides – they have to be under the sun at all times; they have to stand all the time; they have to brave the rains at times. Many of the traffic aides suffer lung problems because of the exhaust from the cars and jeepneys. And aside from all these, they are prone to be victims of vehicular accidents. But we also understand that their work is important and we all need to work together to have a better city,” Treñas further expressed.
Last year, the city government has already partnered with various government agencies for the training and professionalization of the traffic aides through the “Traffic Academy.”
“When traffic management was transferred to the city government through the Local Government Code, there was no local academy for training of traffic aides. We try to look for ways to improve our traffic aides and we will continue to do so,” Treñas said.
Inviting loud critics
Treñas also instructed Conlu to invite the frequent and very loud critics of the city’s traffic management to give an eight-hour lecture on traffic management with field demonstration to the traffic aides at the earliest possible time.
“So that we can learn from them since they seem to know better. I will provide honorarium at my own expense,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to Conlu, they will identify who could be those who will be invited to the said lecture but it will also be open to anyone who will join.
They are yet to set the date for it.
“Imbitaron naton ang mga critic para nga makita nila ang sitwasyon kag kon ano man ang ila opinion kag tan-awon naton kon ang ila bala pagtan-aw kag pagsaway ukon paghambal pwede bala ma-implementar. Applicable bala? Kay aton abi gina-obra, indi abi based sa opinion kundi based sa daily experience naton sa traffic management,” said Conlu.
While he emphasized that the PSTMO is open to all opinions and critics, he underscored that traffic management is a very challenging job especially for a highly urbanized city like Iloilo City./PN
