To address and promote road safety awareness in the country, the Department of Transportation and Land Transportation Office (DOTr-LTO), in partnership with various government agencies, private sector, and various road safety advocacy groups, recently held a successful first-ever Road Safety Congress in Mindanao.

The two-day event, which takes place last February 27 to 28, is part of the LTO Region IX’s Road Safety Program dubbed as Partnership for Enhanced Road Safety (PERS).

With the theme “Making our roads safer through convergence,” the program promotes a unified, holistic, and proactive approach to address road safety issues in the region.

“We are very excited to have this activity. Hindi nare-realize ng karamihan na itong mga nangyayari na injuries, deaths, mas marami ang nanggagaling sa aksidente, sa road crashes,” said Edgar Galvante, LTO Chief Assistant Secretary. 

Meanwhile, DOTr Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Atty. Reinier Paul R. Yebra, who represented DOTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, stated in his keynote address that the event is a good platform because of the basket of solutions which may be generated by each organization involved.

“Road safety is a shared responsibility. ‘Yan ‘ho ang top priority ng DOTr—ang kaligtasan ng mga commuters, passenger at lahat-lahat. Ngayon na po ang panahon na kung saan ang mga drivers ay dapat mag-ingat hindi dahil sa takot na mahuli o ma-penalize, kundi dahil sila ay may tunay na malasakit sa mga pedestrians at commuters,” said Usec Yebra.

The event was highlighted by the expression of Solidarity Messages and the signing of the “Pledge of Commitment for Safer Roads through Convergence” led by Zamboanga City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, who expressed the City’s full support for the initiative.

The second day of the event highlighted the “Walk for Road Safety” parade, participated in by students from different schools, government agencies, and road safety advocacy and transport groups. After the event, Zamboanga City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar announced that the City will issue an Executive Order declaring 28 February as Road Safety Day.

DepEd also showed its eagerness to integrate the “Student’s Today, Road Users Tomorrow” (STRUT) road safety module, developed by LTO Region 5, in the Region 9 K-12 curriculum.