LGUs, agencies urged to implement road-sharing
A notice to sue was sent to Metro Cebu local government units (LGUs) in a bid by ecology lawyers to expedite construction of bicycle lanes and wider sidewalks.
Ecology lawyers Antonio Oposa, Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, Genevieve Tabada and Ben Cabrido said the “Notice to Sue to Implement Road Sharing” was also sent to national government agencies.
In a statement signed by 126 domestic and foreign lawyers, the proponents called for motorists and commuters or “car-less” people to equally share the road by half and for government to build a reliable and efficient mass transportation system.
“Only two out of 100 people in the country own cars but 98 percent are not even given a proper sidewalk, bicycle lanes, (efficient mass transport system and space) for urban edible gardens,” the statement read.
They said the current transportation system is bogged down by the usual problems of traffic congestion, air pollution, expensive fuel, high fares and inefficient and polluting public utility vehicles (PUVs).
The lawyers said the government failed to implement an existing law which directs national government agencies to reform a road system based on the principle that “those who have less in wheels must have more in roads.”
They said the failure of national and local governments to achieve this goal is tantamount to “ecological homicide.”
The demand letter was addressed to the Departments of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) headed by the Office of the President.
In their statement, these lawyers said their notice gave these LGUs and agencies 30 days to comply with the law and implement the road sharing.
“Instead of a car-based transportation mindset, we should shift to an efficient public transportation and non-motorized movement. It is not only clean and easy, it is also cost-free,” the group said. Correspondent Joy Cherry S. Quito
