Sagada residents press salaries for traffic aides

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Petitioners based here and overseas urged the Sangguniang Bayan to allocate amount from environmental fees for wages of traffic aides.

Environmental feeof  P35 per tourist entering Sagada collected by the LGU is classified general fund.

The Revised Tourism Code of 2007 provides that 50% of the amount be spent for tourism purposes.

Environmental fees reached  P2 million plus in 2014 with the town having registered some 65,000 plus tourists last year. 

The first quarter of this year 2015 registered some 32,000 tourists equal to some P1 million  and bound to surpass 65,000 tourists registered last year.

This, as heavy traffic is  major issue especially during influx of tourists during peak seasons and every weekend.

Visitors either come to Sagada by bus or with their private vehicles and vans and cause traffic jams from the bus terminal to the road near Sumaguing Cave along with local vehicles.

Due to traffic and parking issues, executive orders prescribing provisions for traffic operations plan in Sagada were noted in the following:

"The success of the Sagada Holy Week traffic operations plan has become an outline for the traffic implementation plan to be enforced during long weekends, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, Dec. 22- Jan. 2, other peak of tourist arrivals and every weekend thereafter."

The deployment of traffic aides significantly figured in the successful Holy Week traffic operation plan in 2014 and 2015 which led to the smooth flow of traffic in town especially along the gridlock at Dao-angan section of the Dantay-Sagada Road and directing vehicles to designated parking spaces.

Some allowance of traffic aides deployed during  Lent season and long weekends during April 1 Araw ng Kagitingan and the May 1 Labor Day was sourced from business owners.

It was noted that non-deployment of traffic aides still leads  to parking of vehicles along Dao-angan and other sections of the national road causing heavy traffic flow while posing threats of the commission of accidents.

At least three accidents happened last year at the traffic gridlock at Daoangan with two children and one elder woman hurt due to vehciles parked on the road and the passing of another vehicle.

Executive Order 22-2014 indicates no source of budget for wages of traffic aides to manage the traffic along the gridlocks from the bus terminal to Daoangan to the Sumaguing area and direct vehicles to designated parking spaces.