Marker to rise in honor of ‘killer highway’ victims

SIMBULAN

A marker in honor of the people who perished on the so-called “killer highway” and their role in spurring the Quezon City government and the University of the Philippines (UP) into making road safety a priority will soon rise near the spot where multi-awarded veteran journalist Chit Estella-Simbulan lost her life.

The installation of the marker was approved in a resolution passed on third and final reading by Quezon City councilors during a regular session the other day.

It was first proposed in May, a year after Simbulan died when the taxi she was riding in was hit by a passenger bus near the UP-Ayala TechnoHub on Commonwealth Avenue.

According to its proponent, Councilor Ivy Xenia Lim-Lagman, the marker would serve as a testament to efforts by the local government and officials at UP, where Simbulan was a professor at the College of Mass Communication (CMC), to strengthen road safety in order to avoid tragic accidents.

“There is a need to honor the innocent lives which were lost along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, through a marker expressing the city’s advocacy to ensure the safety of motorists and the general riding public …” a portion of the resolution read.

Based on figures collected by the city government’s Department of Public Order and Safety and the Quezon City Police District’s Traffic Enforcement Unit, there were no deaths reported from the 216 vehicular mishaps which occurred on Commonwealth Avenue from January to August this year following steps taken by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the city government to make the major thoroughfare safe.