Much like electric poles blocking roads dangerous spaghetti wires are a nationwide problem. While they are certainly less deadly than unmoved electric poles sitting squarely in the middle of roads they are unsightly and do pose potential problems. Several cites have begun the arduous task of untangling and removing those wires.
Some 44 tons of old and unused telecommunication (telco) wires mounted along the city’s major roads have been removed from July to November this year to clear the hazards and nuisance in public pathways, data of the Task Force Spaghetti Wires on Friday showed.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the “spaghetti” wires were brought to the stockyards of the telco companies and these can be endorsed to the city through a deed of donation.
The collected wires will be donated to the farmers in Barangay Alangilan to be used as trellises in vegetable production.
Last July, Benitez issued Executive Order (EO) No. 3 for the removal, clearing, and reorganizing of all “spaghetti” wires located in the main streets, sidewalks, alleys and public places.
44 tons of spaghetti wires have collected in five months. In Mandaue City 700 kilograms of spaghetti wires have been collected since September.
About 700 kilograms of “dead” wires were collected from the wire clearing and bundling operation of Mandaue City and telecommunication companies.
Engineer Marivic Cabigas, head of the Department of General Services (DGS) on Wednesday, November 16, said that 9 mini dumptrucks of dead wires were collected since the start of the operation in September wherein each truckload weighs about 75 kilograms.
Engineer Lee Naya, DGS Building Maintenance, said that the wires were temporarily stored at the city’s old dump site in Barangay Umapad.
Assistant City Administrator Architect Florentino Nimor said that dangling wires in the city’s major intersections that were blocking the view of CCTV cameras were already cleared and bundled.
Nimor said their operation will now focus on the streets located at the city’s core.
Currently, they are clearing the dangling and spaghetti wires along A. Del Rosario St. and will be clearing the dangling wires along S.B Cabahug next.
Nimor said they may ask the telecommunication companies to possibly provide additional personnel to expedite the clearing operation.
The city government is providing most of the infrastructure support when it comes to equipment and logistics with boom trucks and assistance to ensure there will be no obstruction during the operation.
They mayor should not be considering to ask telecommunications companies to provide personnel. He should be DEMANDING that they do so and that they provide all equipment and cover the cost since these wires belong to them. It is Globe, PLDT, and other private companies who have left these unused wires to rot overhead.
Cebu has been steadily clearing spaghetti wires since typhoon Odette hit. The goal is to remove all wires by December, 2022. Telecommunications companies say they will pitch in and help.
CEBU City Councilor Jerry Guardo said the challenge of Mayor Michael Rama to eradicate all “spaghetti wires” in the city by December is “doable,” and the country’s top telecommunication firms offered support to meet this goal.
During a meeting with the city’s Technical Infrastructure Committee on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022, Rama expressed his disappointment over the entangled wires that can still be seen in the city.
Rama himself had sustained a forehead injury after bumping into a dangling wire while walking, the City’s Public Information Office said.
Currently, there is only one team that handles the removal of the dangling and idle wires, he said.
Guardo added that to achieve Rama’s goal, two more teams will be deployed to cover the city’s northern, central and southern areas.
The councilor clarified that the city’s spaghetti wire eradication program started right after Typhoon Odette (Rai) hit Cebu on Dec. 16, 2021.
City Hall is not spending government funds on this initiative since the clearing operation is part of the telecommunication companies’ (telcos) corporate social responsibility.
In separate statements sent to SunStar Cebu Tuesday, PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom said they are coordinating and supporting the goal of the Cebu City Government to remove all spaghetti wires.
Cathy Yang, PLDT and Smart Corporate Communications Group head, said their company has been in constant coordination with the Cebu City Government to clean up dangling wires throughout the city.
Patrick Gloria, Globe’s director for external affairs-Visayas and Mindanao, said they support Rama’s timeline of removing all spaghetti wires by December 2022 to ensure public safety.
Gloria added that they would also like to call for a “concerted effort among key stakeholders, including all telco, electric and cable operators in the city to ensure the success of the mayor’s vision.”
Quennie Bronce, Visayan Electric’s reputation manager, said their electric wires do not contribute to the spaghetti wires.
To get a sense of how enormous this problem is in 2018 Cagayan de Oro removed 238 KILOMETERS of spaghetti wires.
A total of 238 kilometers of dead wires and cables were untangled and cleaned up by the city's Task Force "Hapsay Kable (cables in order)" throughout the year of 2018 or an additional of 104 more kilometers since its last report in June.
According to Teodoro Buenavista Jr., vice chairperson of the Task Force and Regional Director of National Telecommunications Commission in Region 10 (NTC-10), there were also 69 poles that were "retired" and another 108 alley arms removed.
To put that in perspective that is roughly the distance from Manila to Baguio!
The unanswered question no one seems to want to ask is how did this happen? How did Globe and PLDT cause this nationwide problem? Through years of neglect. Even though these wires pose a grave threat to the public some people choose to ignore the danger.
The cable wires, many hanging loosely, from street posts pose as serious threats to the safety of pedestrians and residents in some parts of Metro Manila.
In an episode of GMA News TV's Brigada, Cesar Apolinario reported about the situation in Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, Manila where electric cable wires are obstructing the way.
"Our residents here are really struggling because first of all, of course, the security of the people who live here, because it's like that, it's really low," said Rebecca Sanchez, a ward leader in the area.
The wires have gone down below their original installation height after some residents tampered with them when they encountered electrical problems, she added.
A 68-year-old carpenter living in the compound almost lost his life after the roof of the "kiliglig" vehicle he was riding got entangled with the drooping wires.
"The driver stopped because the electricity would be cut off. If he continued, the electricity would be cut off, we would be dead," the victim Roberto Aday said.
On the other hand, this danger does not seem to bother the residents of Barangay Damayang Lagi in Quezon City where convoluted electric cable wires also abound.
They casually hang their clothes on the wires.
"When we were hanging inside the house, there wasn't much sun, then when we cooked, we smelled what we were cooking, so why are we hanging here because it's sunny," resident Lorna Danes said.
Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga warned the public against this practice.
"Let's not do that, especially since we cannot mix electricity with water, so if the clothes are wet and you hang them, it's a live wire, you might have an accident. It's more likely than not, so let's just avoid it," he said.
Zaldarriaga also noted that not all these wires are from the electric company. Some, he said, are used for telecommunication, cable and internet connections.
"First of all, there is a difference in height. The Meralco lines stand alone 25 feet. Usually the attachments are around 15 feet, so you can really see the difference," he added.
Meanwhile, a concerned netizen also uploaded a video of a footbridge affected by the same problem.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) spokesperson Celine Pialago said the said overpass was supposed to be closed to the pedestrians due to pending removal of the wires.
Some people, however, have managed to illegally pass through it, she added.
Authorities have already taken action to make the footbridge safely passable.
Aside from posing threats to safety, the tangled wires also serve as "eyesores," according to urban planner, Architect Felino Palafox Jr.
"The cables, overhead wires, visual pollution, eyesore, it's not good to look at, so the urban landscape is destroyed. It's not safe because during storms and typhoons, they get cut, it falls to the ground, so sometimes it hits houses. It's really dangerous," he said.
He suggested the use of submarine quality cables that would be installed underground and could withstand flooding.
Palafox said that stronger political will of the national and local officials is needed to implement such a shift.
Some from the electric power industry, on the other hand, pointed out that this proposal would entail additional costs to customers.
"At the end of the day, you also have to be cognizant of what the consumers will be able to afford," Zaldarriaga said.
Installing all cables underground would effectively end the problem of dangling wires. However, in Cebu City such has been the law since 2001!
THE Cebu City Council has renewed its call for utility firms to get rid of dangling “spaghetti wires” along roads.
Councilor Antonio Cuenco delivered a privilege speech on the matter last Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
“I am alarmed that several electric posts with matching dangling spaghetti wires are hanging all over our city. Clearly, this is an imminent danger to public safety, an accident just waiting to happen,” said Cuenco.
The official wants to know why utility firms in the city still failed to comply with a local law requiring them to place underground all utility lines to address the problem.
City Ordinance (CO) 1894 approved on April 25, 2001 requires all public utilities to transfer their overhead utility cables underground. It was penned by Councilor Nestor Archival.
CO 1894 provides for the medium-term objective of implementation of the underground installation of utility lines five years after the approval of the law. The long-term objective is the mandatory grounding of all utility lines within 10 years after approval of the ordinance.
The same ordinance penalizes the president and/or general manager of the company that violates its provisions. The year 2012 marked the 10th year of the local law.
Spaghetti wires along roads, though, remain an “eyesore” nearly two decades since the passage of the legislation.
Archival said because utility firms failed to comply, former mayor Tomas Osmeña introduced a color-coding scheme instead to address the problem of unsightly, dangling wires.
The scheme was established as a temporary solution, which allowed utility firms to fix tangled wires immediately since the cables’ colored tags made it easier for them to identify.
What is the good of having laws no one will follow or enforce? Instead of introducing a color coding scheme Osmeña should have begun fining companies whose wires remain overhead in defiance of the law. Much more than political will is needed to solve this problem. Telecommunication firms need to realize their obligation towards the public and implement safety practices which would entail removing dead wires. But we all know that's not going to happen. Even if Cebu does remove all the dead wires by December, without true reform they will only be facing the same problem in a few years. Same for Bacolod and Manduae.
