Personnel, protocols in place for opening of classes — PSTMO

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Traffic enforcers and contingency measures are in place to ensure that traffic on major roads is in control when classes for School Year (SY) 2023-2024 in all public schools open on August 29.

Jeck Conlu, head of the city government’s Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO), said his office will deploy more traffic enforcers to areas near schools and major thoroughfares.

“Magafocus ang aton deployment, ang traffic plan natun sa mga schools kag sa major intersections natun nga pasulod syudad because sa volume sang vehicles,” Conlu said in an interview with Daily Guardian on Air via Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo on Friday.

The PSTMO head noted that the deployment of its personnel is not fixed. For instance, in the morning hours, they will be assigned to schools, and later on, their assignment will be in areas experiencing traffic congestion.

Conlu said PSTMO is already back on track after their skills enhancement training from experts of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the University of the Philippines National Center for Transportation Studies (UP NCTS) last August 9 to 12.

“Nagligad skeleton lang gid kita and nabalik na sa normal. Full deployment na kita sini nga semana kay tapos na kita sa aton training,” he said.

Since some private schools and universities and colleges already started their classes, Conlu stressed that the city is experiencing a significant increase in the number of vehicles and the assessment and daily adjustments of PSTMO are ongoing.

Conlu said he is glad that his personnel underwent training with MMDA and UP NCTS, emphasizing that the training was crucial as it helped his personnel to update and enhance their skills in traffic direction and control.

“Ang pinakamayor gid didto is ang traffic direction and control which include [an] introduction to traffic management, [the] conduct of traffic during roadworks, during traffic incidents, during special events, kung ano ang proper kag pag asses sang isa ka area nga congested,” he noted.

The PSTMO head said the primary concern of the training centers on traffic direction and control since enforcers in the city handle the situation manually, in contrast to metropolitan areas like Manila where traffic is often regulated by a network of traffic lights.

He furthered that the training will materialize the desire of Mayor Jerry P. Treñas to professionalize the traffic enforcers by establishing a traffic academy.

“Ang MMDA and UP NCTS nagbulig sa aton pagtrack para ma finalize na natun ang aton traffic academy kag ang aton nga training manual,” he said.

He added that the training has empowered PSTMO to independently stand on its own feet and exercise authority in conducting corporate training for its traffic enforcers without exploring outside Iloilo City or Region 6.