Rama: Next road revolt shouldn’t hassle public

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama called for a meeting with  organizers of the Road Revolution to discuss with them commuters and motorists’ complaints about  the inconvenience that resulted from last Saturday’s event.

Rama said he wants to know what organizers will do to ensure the next Road Revolution would not inconvenience the Cebuanos.

“I have called this group to a meeting to inform them of our police powers  so that they will understand that if you have a right, others also have rights,” he said.

Rama said organizers have to understand the consequences of closing  certain city roads to vehicular traffic.

“There can be no next (Road Revolution) if we do not come to an understanding. If the roads just become empty, that is not a revolution,” he said.

Rama said he was aware that any event held in major thoroughfares in the city would congest nearby streets.

However, organizers can take measures to minimize the inconvenience like examining  traffic statistics and  time and motion studies.

Rama pointed out that the annual Sinulog activities, which draw huge crowds, remain popular with the public.

He said this early, priests of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño already presented to him the proposed  route of  next year’s procession of the image of the Sto. Niño.

“I have already identified the choke points,” he said.

While the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) issued the permit for Saturday’s road closure, Rama said he does not want to blame them for the inconvenience it caused.