WE LEARNED of the following priorities of our Iloilo City mayor-elect Cong. Jerry Treñas
when he returns to City Hall and assumes office on June 30, 2019:
- to build a hospital for the poor
- upgrade our public markets to level up with the malls
- complete our drainage projects
- build high-rise condominiums as relocation sites for those who live in squatter homes or those at river banks and lower areas exposed to flooding; and
- build senior citizens and youth centers
The program is intended to keep our people healthy and well-equipped to earn a living, he explained.
We are glad that our incoming city mayor has already formulated his plans and we gathered that even the staffing of his office is now complete.
He previously served in this position for three consecutive terms from 2001 to 2010 before his election to Congress.
As he was quoted, Mayor-elect Treñas “aims to make our city strong and RISE TO THE NEXT LEVEL” as one of the three highly urbanized cities of the country by 2028.”
Well, we do not mind if the new city mayor will once again serve for another three straight terms as he infers above in making the projection, provided he keeps his promise to further improve the city and achieve that highly urbanized status.
With the full support of Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon who was re-elected and the Sanggunian Panlungsod, as well as new Congresswoman-elect Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda, we believe that the plans can be all achieved.
But with the city’s expansion and growth, vehicle traffic will become a problem which we begin to see even now. We believe that Mayor-elect Treñas must include it as among his priorities.
In this direction, we can start putting things in order if we attend to our parking problem and adopt a car-owning policy like what they have in Hong Kong. What they do is that no car license registration will be issued unless the car owner or operator shows evidence of parking or garage space for the vehicle he is registering.
By this requirement which the city can implement with the cooperation of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), no car or other kinds of vehicles will be seen using the city streets as garage, especially in the evenings.
To complement the home garage policy, our traffic police must remain vigilant in enforcing traffic rules especially in the loading and unloading of passengers by public transport that must be only at pre-designated areas. The police shall make it a rule to be visible at all times.
What about adding also a program to develop the tourist potentials of the Iloilo River? It will be great to introduce a river cruise for locals and visitors alike. This will be timely because Iloilo today has become an active tourist destination.
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GEM OF THOUGHT
“Reaction: It is like a boat that is going against the current but does not prevent the river from flowing on.” – Victor Hugo
(For comments or re-actions, please e–mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
