T.I.C. - Cebu City's Unique Answer to Unmitigated Street Diggings

The official seal of the Technical Infrastructure Committee
of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City

Solving an Age-old Urban Problem

Rationalizing street diggings have always been a headache for local government units. Well-paved city streets are dug open to accommodate the laying of main service lines of private utility companies and to provide space for utility posts upon which electrical connections and service utility lines of telecommunication companies are strung in long lines of overhead cables which mar the City’s skyline. More often than not, these overhead wires tend to dangle loosely to pose traffic hazards to both motorists and pedestrians. Fire trucks of the City’s fire department cannot enter streets of fire-stricken areas because of these dangling service wires which impede their entry into the scene of fire.

To solve such hazardous dangling overhead wires and to prevent untimely and repeated destruction of well-paved city thoroughfares the City of Cebu ventured to put up a service committee to regulate street diggings and the laying down of utility posts. This gave birth to the foundation of the Technical Infrastructure Committee (TIC) of the City of Cebu.

Unique Development Partnership

Of the more than 117 cities in the Philippines, only the City of Cebu has the capability to view infrastructure and social development problems holistically, with a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach in urban issues solutions where the local government unit of Cebu City act as a catalyst and integrator of community development efforts interfaced with social and economic dimensions, having the development components of – Industry, Business, National Government Line Agencies and Civil Society – acting as partners in nation-building on the local level.

TIC Has Presidential Mandate

Once upon a time in the past the other component cities and some municipalities in Metro Cebu, were part of a cohesive urban problem-solving group known as Metro Cebu Coordinating Council funded by an RDC-driven scheme – the Metro Cebu Development Project with foreign funding assistance and made possible with the Administrative Order of then President Aquino issued by Executive Secretary Franklin M. Drilon on April 2, 1990.

What is TIC?

The Technical Infrastructure Committee (TIC) is a task force organized by the MCCC (Metro Cebu Coordinating Council) as an implementing arm to pursue its program of action in Metro Cebu.

TIC is a unique management mechanism of rationalizing and coordinating steps in the solution of infrastructure concerns affecting Metro Cebu.

TIC is covered by the Cebu City Ordinance No. 2135 and has its own implementing rules and regulations for its enforcement. Thus a highly-urbanized city – City of Cebu – has finally grabbed the horns of a pesky dilemma and came up with a sustaining relevant solution.

TIC Rationale

The rules and guidelines on projects especially for road diggings and excavation permits are as follows:
a. Application for excavation permits should be submitted to the TIC;
b. Endorsement from TIC must be signed by the TIC Chairman to the agencies concerned;
c. Approval from the City Engineer’s Office;
d. Upon approval of excavation permit or before starting the permit it is required that barricades, warning signs, evening lights and especially billboards should be placed on the site.

Metro Cebu TIC’s Impressive Success

MCCC’s rationalization of infrastructure activities scored impressive successes which was the envy of Metro Manila Development Authority which frequently suffers from divisiveness because many mayors of Metro Manila have the propensity to agree to disagree with the Metro Manila Governor as well as among themselves on prioritization of infrastructure concerns.

TIC’s History

TIC was born on April 20, 1992 when former President Corazon C. Aquino through her Executive Secretary Franklin Drilon issued an Administrative Order No. 172 “pursuant to Section 3 (1) of Administrative Order no. 172, Series of 1990, creating Metro Cebu Coordinating Council for road excavations, restorations and other related infrastructure activities.”

To his credit, the City of Cebu under Mayor Tomas Osmeña responded by motivating the Sangguniang Panlungsod to enact Cebu City’s counterpart ordinances and resolutions. Thus was born the country’s only effective coordinative body that is actively pursuing a rational and logical approach in the management of controversial road construction, street diggings, excavations, road widening and regulation of private utility companies’ primary and secondary service lines, service drops and other line hardwares, and other infrastructure-related concerns thereby promoting general public welfare.

Metro-wide Spread

Before the creation of TIC and during the 2nd term of Mayor Tomas Osmeña there were rampant diggings and excavations made by the utility companies. Hon. Tomas Osmeña decided to organize a committee called MCCC “Metro Cebu Technical Infrastructure Committee” that will regulate road diggings, excavations, aerial cable lines, underground water service lines and other infrastructure problems, including those infrastructure facilities belonging to the respective barangays of Cebu City. Mayor Tomas Osmeña organized MCCC, but when the MCDP reached its terminal phase only Cebu City opted to continue the integrated development problem-solving approach. The other MCDP members were unwilling to shoulder the cost of the holistic scheme of urban development problem-solving concept characterized by a management system style rather than the traditional parochial way of piece-meal, fragmented and not cost-effective development endeavors. Mayor Tomas plays the role of big brother despite the highly individualistic style of public management by the other LGUs who are now inactive members of the Metro Cebu Coordinating Council nevertheless continue to enjoy the generous technical services of the Cebu City TIC inspectorate teams which continue to monitor and evaluate street diggings and excavations of private utility companies in their respective areas’ territorial jurisdictions even without their request. This shows the brotherly concern of Mayor Osmeña towards his fellow mayors underscoring the subnational development leadership of Cebu City.

Whenever international conferences are situated in the Cebu Island, the Cebu City Technical Infrastructure Committee goes into action to support such noble national endeavors, including even the yearly observance of the Sinulog of Cebu and other major sports activities by imposing moto propio the holding of moratoria on street diggings and excavations along the usual ceremonial routes.

Cebu City TIC silently serves the good people of Cebu without fanfare and expectations of recognition and reward. We stand ready to serve.

TIC Activities

1. Providing assistance for bundling truck to the utility group for their bundling activities of dangling spaghetti wires of utility companies;
2. Intervention of the TIC as the coordinating body for the implementation of the color coding of the utility group;
3. The TIC has its own Inspectorate Team which is composed of utility companies and agencies’ technical representatives concerned to closely monitors its street diggings, excavations, aerial communication lines, and other infrastructure projects, schedules every Thursday of the week. They also evaluate the quality of restoration efforts of street diggings by the utility companies. If the TIC Inspectorate Team is not satisfied with the quality of work in the restoration endeavors, they will submit their report to the TIC body which will now direct the erring utility company or government agency to redo the restoration work or else the City of Cebu will undertake the restoration work and charge the concerned company with the cost of restoration.

City Ordinances of the TIC

1. City Ordinance 1647 – Approved October 7, 1996
Amending Sections (3), 4, 5, 11(b), of Ordinance 1918 (known as ordinance “regulating street diggings and providing penalties for violations thereof”).
2. City Ordinance 2410 – Approved March 11, 1996
Approving the City Ordinance 1618 – an ordinance regulating street diggings and providing penalties for violators thereof.
3. City Ordinance 1894 – Approved April 4, 2001
Ordinance creating the Utility Lines Installations Coordinating Committee as sub-committee of the existing Technical Infrastructure Committee provided in City Ordinance 1618.
4. City Ordinance 2092 – Approved September 13, 2006
Ordinance requiring utility companies to make their own service/contractor crews to wear uniforms and IDs while servicing utility posts service lines to prevent undue pilfering or tampering of competitor lines.



TIC Board Resolutions, Series of 2007

1. Resolution No. 1 – Naming PLDT as the team leader for bundling activities by the utility companies.
2. Resolution No. 2 – Interservice cooperation between LGUs and private utility companies.
3. Resolution No. 3 – Information gathering on stolen goods.
4. Resolution No. 4 – Integrated Planning Efforts – Need for consultative and coordinative planning of road projects between DPWH and private utility companies.

Resolutions Sponsored by Councilor Archival for TIC
1. Resolution No. 07-209 – Approved July 25, 2007
Directing all utility companies to continue in bundling of their respective utility wires and to start the color coding of the bundling for a better and cleaner Cebu and name PLDT as the lead composite agency for the bundling of the telecommunications utility wires.
2. Resolution No. 07-457 – Approved August 22, 2007
Requesting DPWH to expedite the concreting of sidewalk along Escario Street to avoid inconvenience to the residents of the City of Cebu through the Technical Infrastructure Committee before commencing any of its infrastructure projects.
3. Resolution No. 07-719 – Approved September 19, 2007
Requesting all utility companies to make an inventory of their respective utility posts by putting tags on the post bearing the company’s name and post serial number and submit the same to the TIC.

-LCM

TIC’s Presiding Officer for Administration is Dr. Lindy Crisolo Morrell who holds a Doctoral Degree in Environmental Management Communication from the School of Engineering of Stratford International University based in the U.S. State of Wyoming; and a Doctor of Letters in Journalism from St. Clements University in the British West Indies Islands of Turks and Caicos near Bermuda. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines and is a Fellow of the Design, Technology and Management Society International (DTMSI) based in Ladismith Cape, South Africa. He is a retired Regional Executive Director of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and is an awardee of the UP Alumni Association in Dilliman, Quezon City on April 16, 1977 for rendering outstanding services in Muslim Mindanao.