CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Showing they were unfazed by a co-worker’s death, more than 400 personnel of the Roads and Traffic Administration here staged a protest march on Wednesday, leaving some of the city’s major roads with no enforcers for half a day.
The workers of the city’s traffic management body said they will not be intimidated by their critics after the death of traffic enforcer Cris Cabingas, who was killed while on duty outside the Cogon public market last Dec. 30.
Lawyer Jose Edgardo Uy, chief of the RTA, said the “solidarity walk” was to show people they are not frightened by the death of Cabingas, and vowed to continue doing their jobs.
“We are not cowed. We should not fear because we are the authority whose only mandate is to implement the city’s traffic laws,” Uy said at the protest rally.
Instead, Uy said the RTA will get stricter in implementing traffic rules. He said Senior Supt. Ronnie Francis, the city’s police director, promised to assign policemen to assist the RTA personnel, and to secure them in case there is an attempt on their lives while on duty.
Cabingas, who was the RTA team leader at Cogon, was walking along Guillermo Street to monitor the situation there when an unidentified attacker shot him three times from behind. He died hours later.
Wearing their standard yellow uniform and carrying placards, the RTA enforcers marched from Gaston Park to Velez Street before proceeding to the Cogon market, where they lighted candles at the spot where Cabingas was killed.
RTA workers also expressed their dismay for a radio commentator who said on air that Cabingas deserved to be killed.
On Wednesday afternoon, police filed a murder complaint against the suspect, whom authorities have yet to identify at the City Prosecutor’s Office.
It was reported that prior to his death, there had been talks of killing Cabingas, but he ignored it. Other RTA enforcers have so far not received threats, Uy said.
Since Uy took over as the RTA chief in 2013, his implementation of Mayor Oscar Moreno’s traffic program called “Hapsay Dalan” aimed at clearing the streets of vendors and illegally built structures was met with opposition.
Uy was also criticized for penalizing jaywalkers for the first time at the Divisoria area. He admitted he received death threats when he started as the city’s traffic czar, but said he remained committed to enforcing “Hapsay Dalan.”