‘Oro drive on ‘spaghetti wires’ an example for LGUs’

A joint memorandum circular mandating local governments nationwide to clear their streets of dangling ‘spaghetti wires’ will cite Cagayan de Oro City’s campaign as a model, the chief of the National Telecommunications Commission regional office (NTC-10) said.

“We are the only local government with a task force (created for this purpose)…the official conveyed to us that what we are doing in Cagayan de Oro will soon be replicated by other local governments through a joint memorandum circular that will soon be issued (for this purpose),” Regional NTC-10 Director Teodoro Buenavista said.

In last Thursday’s seminar-workshop of the Task Force Klarex Nga Serbisyo sa Kable held in one of the city’s hotels, Buenavista said a top official of the Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT) met with them last December to confirm a nationwide campaign against dangling utility wires.

Aside from the DICT and NTC, Buenavista said other agencies that will reportedly sign and issue the joint memorandum circular will be the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Institute of Electronic Engineers of the Philippines (IECEP).

“The circular will mandate local governments to clear the messy wires in their streets…all eyes will be on Cagayan de Oro since its best practices will be replicated in other cities with the second pilot area being the Quezon City government. Cagayan de Oro will be highlighted and some officials may soon visit us,” Buenavista said.

Aside from a recommendation to pursue underground cabling using the facilities of the Misamis Oriental Telephone Co., Buenavista said the task force will coordinate with Cagayan de Oro City Hall in launching a clearing operation on dangling wires sometime this month that will cover Vamenta Boulevard in Barangay Carmen to some parts of the city’s uptown area.

“That’s why when we visited Mayor (Rolando) Uy at his office, he reiterated his administration’s commitment to supporting our campaign,” Buenavista said, adding that Mayor Klarex issued an executive order to reconstitute the task force. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)