By Francis Allan L. Angelo
The top traffic manager of Iloilo City took to Facebook to express his frustration over the monstrous traffic jam caused by the 12 Days of Merry Promo of fuel firm Petron.
The 50 percent discount offered by Petron saw motorists flock to their pump stations all over the city which exacerbated the already chaotic traffic situation in the city since Monday.
In his Facebook post, Public Safety and Transportation Management Office head Jeck Conlu said the 2-hour promo was a sabotage of sorts.
He added that if Petron’s intention was to help, it could have extended the promo to a whole day event to prevent motorists from flocking their pump stations to beat the 2-hour time frame.
“If intention nyo maka bulig make it whole day not 2 hrs kay daw gin sabotahe nyo lng ang dalan kag tao,” Conlu said in his Facebook post.
Conlu told Daily Guardian that he already wrote a letter to Petron to raise the problems caused by its promo.
The firm also issued a public apology for the massive traffic jams caused by its promo all over the country.
In his letter to Petron Corp. based in Bo. Obrero, Lapuz, Conlu asked the firm to inform the city government of any promotional event like the one on Tuesday.
“We appreciate your intention, however, in as much as it can help our fellow Ilonggos in this time of need, the entire city experienced a chaotic traffic flow and aggravated the influx of people which is very detrimental to our fight against COVID-19,” according to Conlu who is also the spokesperson of the Iloilo City COVID-19 team.
The promo may have helped consumers, but Conlu noted that the very limited time of two hours created “inconvenience to thousand others who are plying the city streets” as motorists rushed to avail of the discount before the two-hour time frame ended.
