One lane of Session Road will be closed again this month, extending until the first week of March because of the Panagbenga celebrations sans reports from concerned agencies on the impact of the weekend closure on the air quality.
In its special session last Jan. 27, the city council partially granted the request of Mayor Benjamin Magalong to extend the road’s closure. Instead of six months, the council said closure will only until cover four Sundays of February.
In its previous session, the council deferred acting on the mayor’s request pending submission by the Mayor’s Office of technical reports about the impact of Session Road’s six-month closure last year.
On Monday, the council granted the request even without these reports. But as condition, the council said it will only allow the closure in February with the condition that City Mayor’s Office will submit within two weeks an evaluation report on the impact of traffic and peace and order in the area, and the air quality report from the Environment Management Bureau.
Ordinance 21 s. 2011 sets the guidelines on the experimental closure of public roads.
The ordinance states, among others, that any traffic experiment should be conducted not exceeding six months.
The ordinance also states that violation of the guidelines shall make the responsible government official and/or employee and traffic enforcer liable for administrative and/or criminal charges. – Rimaliza A. Opiña
April 26, 2024
