Council defers request for extension of session road closure

January 27, 2020 Metro BLISTT

Relative to the executive body’s request to extend the recently concluded pedestrianization of Session Road until June 2020, the City Council requested the presence of representatives from concerned offices and agencies to give an official report about the conduct of the said activity in the past months.
“What are the reasons that would justify another six months of closure of the road every Sunday? What were the gains from the pedestrianization?” Councilor Benny Bomogao, Chairman of the Committee on Public Utilities, Transport, and Traffic Legislation inquired.
City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Peña revealed that there had been an increase on foot traffic in the area which indicated success in the conduct of the said activity. Dela Peña claimed that the closure of the road had encouraged some residents to “commute and just walk on Session Road instead of driving their vehicles” on those Sundays.
Dela Peña further disclosed that there were still a number of activities lined up and awaiting execution in line with Session Road’s pedestrianization such as One Town One Product (OTOP), Barangay Women Livelihood Projects, and Chalk Art for Guinness World Records, and Support for Urban Farmers, among others.
Councilors Betty Tabanda and Arthur Allad-iw recalled that the objectives of the closure of the road were for the improvement of air quality in the area and for traffic experimentation.
“Do you have reports on the air quality and on the traffic situation along Harrison Road, Magsaysay Road, and Bonifactio Street?” Tabanda asked. “Those reports would serve as our basis in deciding whether we approve the request or not.”
The city administrator admitted they were still on the process of consolidating reports from different offices and agencies.
However, he assured the council that there had been a decrease of air pollution in the area as per his observation. Dela Peña also assured that the activities conducted in the past months did not contribute to the pollution in the area.
“After the Session Road closure, it seems that more people are walking. They even recorded an average of 40,000 people who walk along Session Road in just a day,” Dela Peña reported. Asked about the traffic condition in neighboring roads during the conduct of the said activity, PCPT Samuel Pacio from the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) said the closure of Session Road every Sunday had affected the traffic condition in the other roads earning complaints from a few public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers.
Meanwhile, Councilor Lilia Fariñas deemed it wise to come up with guidelines governing the conduct of activities during the Session Road closure to ensure peace, order, and cleanliness.
The August Body explained that their approval of the request for a 6-month extension would depend on the official report from the concerned offices and agencies, thus requested its urgent submission. With the absence of documents to substantiate the request, the City Council decided to defer it and transmit the transcript of the discussion to the executive body for their appropriate action.
 
Jordan G. Habbiling/ABN