Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the city has adopted innovations in its organizational set-up in order to fast track the establishment and operation of the northbound terminal in Bacolod City.

“We believe the terminal will make a major impact on our traffic situation in Bacolod, considering the volume of people coming in and out of the city through the north route,” he said.

Leonardia said he has designated Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson to be directly and officially involved, since traffic is both an executive and legislative concern.

He said Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. will continue to handle the legislative side and Sayson will be his authorized representative, or conduit, in traffic.

“I’m very confident that, with the direct involvement of Sayson, we can even hasten our traffic policy implementation and this is supposed to make major inroads in traffic so that we can improve our traffic system in Bacolod,” Leonardia said. 

The ordinance establishing the northbound terminal is in place, but there are many technical requirements that are still being tackled, he said.

Sayson said that, after the mayor has issued an executive order, he will call for a meeting with the different organizations under the Bacolod Traffic Authority Council in order to streamline the traffic operation.

Gamboa said that, based on a study conducted in 2004, there are about 7,000 northbound vehicles entering Bacolod.

If they could limit the entry of these vehicles, this will ease traffic in the northern part of the city especially along Mandalagan and the Shopping area, he said.

“We hope we can operate the terminal in six months or within a year,” Gamboa said.

He said they will come up with a memorandum of agreement with the winning bidder after they have complied with the requirement for publication in a local and a national daily.  

Meanwhile, an ordinance amending Section 2 of City Ordinance No. 391, Series of 2005, or an Ordinance Providing for Police Clearance Fees, was approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on third and final reading yesterday.

Authored by Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, the ordinance provides that police clearance fees for Commission on Election registration is P30 instead of P80 as provided in C.O. 391.

This will be valid until Oct. 31, 2009 only, it said.

The ordinance said one requirement in the registration of voters is a valid ID with picture and signature. According to the COMELEC-Bacolod, the presentation of a police clearance is a substantial compliance of the requirement in the absence of a valid ID, it said.*CGS

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