Ariel Inton —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — With 29 days left before the deadline for Metro mayors to remove obstructions from all public roads, Quezon City traffic czar Ariel Inton said that so far, over 60 percent of the city’s major roads have been cleared.
But Inton admitted on Wednesday that maintaining a high clearing rate has been difficult in the city which accounts for 25 percent of Metro Manila’s land area.
“Our [clearing teams] cover a wider area compared to other cities. You can’t expect the roads to be 100 percent cleared because many people from other cities enter Quezon City every day, to park their cars or to set up again the structures we have already cleared,” he told the Inquirer.
In response to the challenge set by the national government to mayors, Mayor Joy Belmonte created the task force for transport and traffic management through an executive order in July and appointed Inton to head it.
The task force was ordered to specifically focus on “the regulation of tricycles and pedicabs; the orderliness and safety of all forms of public utility vehicle (PUV) terminals, including identified loading and unloading points, and the management of vehicular traffic.”
According to Inton and Ares Gutierrez, chief of the Quezon City Public Information Department, the clearing operations do not just focus on removing obstructions but also involve sustainable planning.
“Mayor Joy wants sustainable solutions so we look for alternative areas for parking, vending as well as measures/schemes to have an orderly dispatching of PUVs. People are generally receptive as we also see that they, too, are tired of chaotic roads,” said Gutierrez.
He added that the city government was “committed to soldier on even beyond the 60-day period” set by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for all mayors to clear public roads.
Inton said that while they encounter resistance from individuals such as illegal vendors, it was only a “common knee-jerk reaction” that was resolved by sticking to the law and involving city planners in providing relocation spaces for them.