Citom may hire 80 enforcers to help regulate habal habal

More traffic personnel are needed on field to man traffic flow and get rid of the motorcycles for hire (habal habal) on the city’s main streets.

Lawyer Rafael Yap, head of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), said he already requested  the City Hall human resources office for the hiring of 80 more traffic personnel to add to the 289 existing enforcers.

Yap said that a mobile Citom office would also be deployed to patrol city streets and deter the presence of motorcycles-for-hire.

Once this is available, he said he would want the mobile Citom office tested along Salinas Drive junction and Gorordo Avenue near JY Square, where motorcycles-for-hire converge.

“The mayor has tasked us to address the problem of habal habal,” he said.

Yap said that motorcycles-for-hire are perennial problems along the Salinas drive junction, which is the city’s “gateway” to tourism areas like the Waterfront Hotel in barangay Lahug.

“We have to take them off the main road,” he said.

He, however, cited an instance where a Citom enforcer failed to regulate the operation of motorcycles-for-hire in one area after one of the drivers, who was armed with an ice pick, threatened to harm the enforcer.

Yap said that while he wanted his traffic enforcers protected, it would be their lookout if they would arm themselves for their defense.

“Individually sila na ang bahala if they wanted to secure a gun. For me, owning a gun or possessing a citation ticket is not a symbol of authority, what’s important to me is the person implementing the law,” he said.

Yap said that the Government Services Office (GSO) is working for the conversion of a Kaoshiung bus into a Citom mobile office.

He said he wanted to hold office inside the mobile Citom bus so that he could personally supervise the operations of the traffic enforcers.

He said he would want the operation of motorcycles-for-hire legalized because they serve the needs of   the lack of transportation in a certain area.

But since they’re still illegal, he said, then the enforcers would have to enforce the law.

Citom now has a total of 562 personnel of which 289 are traffic enforcers.  Another 136 are parking aid attendants while 137 are detailed as office personnel.

Yap said he already requested to hire 80 more enforcers but the request was still pending because of budget constraints.

“Due to budget constraints dili pa nila mahatag ang 80 additional personnel.  It will all depend on the budget kung pila ang ilang ma-accommodate,” he said.