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Egay Uy .

IN my previous columns, I have repeatedly called on barangay officials to cooperate and collaborate with respect to the enforcement of local ordinances.  When I was with the traffic office, I found the contribution of barangay officials in the implementation of traffic rules and regulation wanting – wanting of enthusiasm, wanting of true collaborative efforts, and wanting of sustainability.

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I have been citing the trisikad regulations in the Traffic Code of Cagayan de Oro. According to the code, trisikad operation, for personal or commercial purposes, are not allowed to ply the city streets covered by the numbered barangay – from Barangay 1 to Barangay 40. And it’s understandable.  City streets are plied by what appears to be continuously moving motor vehicles – not to mention the illegally parked ones along narrow streets such that trisikads only contribute to traffic congestion and delay.

Sadly, and even to this date, I have seen numbered barangays still allowing trisikad units to operate in their barangays – and officially, too, by issuing permits to operate. It is not difficult to spot these barangays. Just motor around and you will find out where.

But the days of this practice may already be numbered. Barangay officials, notably the barangay chairmen and the barangay council members, are supposed to be in the forefront of implementing local ordinances that are applicable within their respective jurisdictions. That is mandated by the Local Government Code. And traffic laws are among them.

Yes, the days of this practice may already be numbered with the pronouncements made by the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, who is also sitting as a city councilor in the city council, Yam Lam Lim or more popularly known as Alam Lim.  He is also the incumbent chairman of Barangay 40.

When the Cagayan de Oro City Price Coordinating Council conducted an information and education session on consumer rights sometime last year in various barangay clusters, Councilor Alam Lim readily acceded to our request to hold one in his barangay covered court because we found no other suitable venue for one cluster. I did not know Alam personally then but when I talked to him over the phone, I was surprised of his approachability and meekness. He was not difficult to talk to.

Recently, I heard him talk on radio in an interview by Maricel Rivera about his proclamation that he is supporting the administration of Mayor Oscar S. Moreno whom he called “Atong boss ug atong amahan kay siya man ang atong mayor.” He then proceeded to say that he will become the bridge to the city government of even the barangay chairmen who did not vote for him during the recent Liga elections.  “Human na ang politika. Trabaho na pud ta” is how I summarize what he said.

Not bad for the Cagayan de Oro City constituents who will benefit from this collaborative efforts of city and barangay officials.

Now it’s beginning to happen.

 

(Lawyer Egay Uy is serving in the city’s price coordinating council, and the Regulatory and Complaints Board.)

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