Archie Reyes, city information officer, also said the new recruits will still have to undergo training before being deployed to man the streets. They will be joining the present force of 96 traffic enforcers, he said.
But Reyes said the ideal number is 220 traffic enforcers that can be deployed in major thoroughfares 16 hours daily.
He said 54 more traffic enforcers will be hired in January next year to complete the force as their salaries will still be included in the 2017 budget.
As of now, Reye said, traffic enforcers are deployed on “broken shifts” during rush hour from 6 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m.
According to Reyes, Danilo Concepcion, chief of the City Traffic Enforcement and Transport Management Office, despite his meager resources, is constantly devising ways to prevent and solve the traffic gridlock which has turned the area around Marquee Mall in Barangay Pulung Maragul up to Barangay Pulung Cacutud in the east, and Balibago in the west and even the NLEx exits into a virtual parking lot during rush hour.
Monstrous traffic jams are also common at the intersection of Rizal Avenue Extension going to Porac town and the Clark Circumferential Road in Barangay Cutcut where the traffic light is busted.
The Friendship Gate of the Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ) in Barangay Anunas here all the way to the Friendship Bridge to the south and barangays Malabanias and Balibago in the east is also a site of monstrous traffic gridlocks rendering useless the new traffi c scheme being implemented by enforcers in the area.
Traffic jams in the area around SM City Clark in barangays Malabanias and Balibago are a constant. The construction of the Capilion Corp. Pte. Ltd. project called Clark Green City and the Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. dealership and service center at the CFZ main entrance is expected to compound the problem by tenfold, according to stakeholders.
A recent traffic summit held at the Royce Hotel at the CFZ was intended to find solutions to the traffic problem but to no avail. The summit pointed to undisciplined jeepney drivers as culprits in the traffic mess.
City Councilor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. has said that the city government should prioritize finding ways to solve the city’s traffic woes which he said is the primary problem besetting the city.
But his colleagues in the city council led by Councilors Jericho Aguas and Alex Indiongco rebuked him saying illegal drugs is the main problem because the traffic problem can be easily resolved.
The city council also refused to approve Lazatin’s resolution to fix busted traffic lights saying the Public Works Department has already set aside funds for their repair. But as to when, the city council has remained silent.
The Angeles City Traffic Enforcement and Transport Management Office was formed and mandated to oversee, control, manage, and regulate the whole operations in relation to traffic enforcement, and management of traffic and transport problems in the city. It’s a complete failure, said a motorist regularly plying the major thoroughfares of the city.
