House inquiry on Metro Cebu ‘traffic crisis’ pushed

House Deputy Speaker and Cebu Rep. Vincent Franco Frasco has sought a congressional inquiry into the “traffic crisis” in Metropolitan Cebu which has supposedly resulted in at least P1.1 billion in daily economic losses.

In his House Resolution No. 1592, Frasco asked the House committees on transportation, and good government and public accountability to look into the problem.

Metro Cebu is made up of the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, Carcar, Naga, Talisay and Mandaue as well as the towns of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando.

Frasco said that Metro Cebu was the second fastest growing metropolis in the country after Metro Manila and “plays an increasingly significant role in the industrial, commercial and financial development of the Visayas and Mindanao regions.”

READ: Frasco seeks House probe on Metro Cebu traffic crisis

But it was also suffering from “severe” traffic congestion and other transportation-related problems, adversely affecting residents and the hampering “the mobility of goods and services.”

“There is a need to study the current traffic situation in Metropolitan Cebu and revisit the existing transportation and development policies and projects being implemented,” Frasco said.

The inquiry, he added, might lead to measures to resolve the problem. —JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE