STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - Bacolod City

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at night and for traffic management. Many public transport drivers obey traffic
rules only when police officers themselves direct the flow of traffic.
So far, 21 police officers have been added to the BCPO complement since
that request was made. Definitely we need more than that but at least, we are
getting some positive response already.
To augment funds from the national government for its operations,
Bacolod City continued to provide financial support to the BCPO of about P12.3
million for the year ending June 30, 2008, part of which came from PAGCOR
funds and part from the General Fund of the City. These were used to cover
monthly cash allowances of Pl,000 per personnel, gasoline allowances of P438K
per month, and other maintenance and operating expenses.
In addition, the city spent P350K to renovate the office of the Traffic
Management Unit/Bacolod Traffic Authority.
Presently, a new BCPO Headquarters is undergoing construction for a
cost of P12.5 million. They have asked us to share in the cost but although we
have agreed in principle, we still have to determine how much we can contribute
to this project.
To our City Director, Police Senior Superintendent Ronilo Quebrar and the
men and the women in his command, thank you for your work in keeping our city
relatively safe and peaceful.
TRAFFIC
May I now report on traffic.
During the year ending June 30, 2008, the Traffic Management Unit and
Bacolod Traffic Authority Offices or TMU/BTAO were reorganized for more
effective management.
First, both offices were placed under one officer-in-charge so that there is
quicker decision-making and tighter supervisory control over systems and
personnel.
Second, an Engineering Unit was created under the BTAO set-up to take
care of physical needs of traffic management such as installation and repair of
traffic lights, filling up of potholes in major streets, setting up of traffic signs and
other signages, putting up of road markings and barriers to guide the smoother
flow of traffic, etc. Previously, all these were under the City Engineer’s Office
which was already swamped with a lot of work and projects. Providing the