Talavera SB tackles ‘truck ban’ to ease traffic
TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija – The municipal council tackled on Tuesday during a public hearing an urgent concern of Talavera Mayor Nerito “JR” Santos Jr. for them to pass a “truck ban” ordinance that prohibits the passage of overloaded trucks and trailers via the Maharlika Highway within the city proper under the jurisdiction of Barangays La Torre and Calipahan here.
The mayor, in his letter to Vice Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez and the municipal council, cited that “these overloaded trucks and trailers cause heavy traffic, damages to roads and pollution, affecting and interrupting the day-to-day activities of local residents, especially the students going to school every day.”
Santos Jr. asked the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) to “enact an ordinance banning said overloaded vehicles from traversing the Maharlika Highway within the Poblacion area and providing penalties thereof.”
These overloaded trucks are to take instead the alternate Bypass Road passing through Bgys. La Torre and Calipahan.
During a public hearing by the SB that was presided over by Councilor Erwin Chioco, chairman of the SB Committee on Transportation and Communications, it was suggested by general services officer Engr. Mark Jerbert Gelacio that a truck ban is imposed from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. with window hours allotted from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; and 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.
Present during the public hearing were barangay officials, quarry operators, hardware owners, representatives of trucking services, supermarkets, agri-supply-chemical shops, and other stakeholders from various business groups such as Savemore, Waltermart, and Lammart.
Also invited were members of the local police, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Nueva Ecija 1st District Engineering Office, the Provincial Highway Patrol Group (HPG), and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Engr. Daniel M. Ferrer, one of the resource persons invited, proposed that a “continuing appropriation” clause be incorporated in the proposed measure to ensure that funds are available to support the project’s obligations, while business owner Nancy Ignacio said that local operators like them should be given lee-way and that sticker-logos should be issued to their delivery trucks for easy identification and free entry or access of the Maharlika Highway within the Poblacion area.
Councilor Chioco said his committee will next conduct a careful study on the matter before submitting its final recommendations to the SB as a whole.
