ILOILO City – Public hazards. This was how the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) of the city government described the carnival rides put up on the street outside Jaro district plaza for the upcoming Jaro fiesta on Feb. 2.
And so these carnival rides were dismantled, said PSTMO chief Jeck Conlu.
The dismantling – carried out by PSTMO’s Task Force on Anti-Squatting and Illegal Structures (ASIS) – was effected on Jan. 17.
The carnival rides included a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round.
Just this Feb. 15, PSTMO also removed feria stalls along Plaza Rizal Street outside Jaro Plaza for causing traffic congestion.
“They may transfer inside the plaza if there are still spaces available,” said Conlu.
PSTMO is inspecting Jar Plaza and its environs every day.
The goal, according to Conlu, is to ensure public safety at all times.
On Tuesday, the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) passed a resolution urging Task Force ASIS to remove the feria. This was after Mayor Jose Espinosa III defended the feria on a lane of Plaza Rizal Street, insisting that, “Wala traffic. Last year amu man ina. One-way ang Plaza Rizal Street kag gina-parking-ngan lang gani sang mga salakyan.”
Councilor Joshua Alim said, “There is a provision in the Local Government Code that only the SP can close half of a lane or even one lane of a road.”
The SP had not ordered nor approved the closure of any part of Plaza Rizal Street, he stressed./PN
