37 LGUs recognized for road safety excellence

Thirty-seven cities and municipalities were awarded by the Philippine Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Tuesday in recognition of the local government units’ (LGUs) efforts to make Philippine roads safer.

The DOTr and LTO, in partnership with law group ImagineLaw, celebrated the significant progress the country has made to reduce speeds on Philippine roads by awarding 33 LGUs that enacted speed limit ordinances and 4 cities that enacted comprehensive road safety codes. These LGUs include the cities of Antipolo, Batangas, Cebu, and Naga for their speed limit ordinances; and cities of Ormoc, Quezon, and Tuguegarao for comprehensive road safety ordinances.

“LGUs have done their part by enacting and enforcing local traffic ordinances to lower speed limits and promote safe driving practices, but this is just the beginning. We hope to continue our efforts to reduce motor vehicle speeds and make roads safer for all road users,” said LTO Secretary Edgar Galvante as he congratulated the LGUs awarded for enacting speed limit ordinances compliant with the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2018-001 of the DOTr, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Department of the Interior and Local Government.

JMC 2018-001 sets the guidelines and standards for road classification, speed limit setting, and road crash data collection. It includes a model speed limit ordinance that identifies the lead agency and mandates the installation of speed limit signs. It contains enforcement procedures, penalty provisions, and budget appropriations to begin procurement of enforcement equipment such as speed guns. It also covers how LGUs can coordinate with the national government to propose lower speed limits on national roads.

“We found out that Tuguegarao City has the most number of road crashes in region 2 and Cagayan Valley has the most number of fatalities due to these crashes. When we enacted the road safety ordinance, road crashes in Tuguegarao City went down by 62%,” Tuguegarao City Mayor Jefferson Soriano shared in a video message.

The event highlighted the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration among national government agencies, LGUs, and civil society organizations to make sure that road safety measures will work and save Filipinos’ lives. It also emphasized the remaining work to be done to sustain the successes in engaging LGUs to set and enforce safer speed limits.

“The road safety status of the Philippines remains to be a work in progress. The LGUs that we award today comprise less than 2% of all LGUs in the country. We are certain that the DOTr and LTO are ready to continue providing technical assistance in developing and enforcing speed limits so that in the future, vehicles are traveling at safe speeds everywhere in the country,” said ImagineLaw Road Safety Project Manager Atty. Daphne Marcelo.

“May this award serves as your motivating force in eradicating road crash deaths in cities and municipalities. We may be slowing down vehicles on the road, but never our progress in making our roads safer,” said DOTr Undersecretary Mark Steven Pastor as he congratulated the winning LGUs.

Among the LGUs recognized for enacting speed limit ordinances today are: Agoo, La Union; Antipolo, Rizal; Balaoan, La Union; Balatan, Camarines Sur; Baras, Rizal; Batangas City; Bontoc, Mountain Province; Calabanga, Camarines Sur; Cebu City; Consolacion, Cebu; Dipaculao, Aurora; Don Carlos, Bukidnon; Gasan, Marinduque, General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite; General Trias, Cavite; Guiguinto, Bulacan; Guinobatan, Albay; Mabitac, Laguna; Mahinog, Camiguin; Mangaldan, Pangasinan; Maramag, Bukidnon; Minabalac, Camarines Sur; Naga, Cebu; Naga City, Camarines Sur; Norzagaray, Bulacan; Pagbilao, Quezon; Salay, Misamis Oriental; San Fernando, Camarines Sur; San Jose, Batangas; Sta. Maria, Laguna;  Tiaong, Quezon; Tudela, Misamis Occidental; and Urbiztondo, Pangasinan.

Meanwhile, the LGUs that enacted road safety codes are: Danao City, Cebu; Ormoc City, Leyte; Quezon City; and Tuguegarao City.