BAGUIO CITY – Baguio City officials have urged the Benguet Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BENECO) to promptly address dangling, tangled, dead, and unsightly wires that pose hazards to pedestrians and motorists.
The Baguio City Council is also considering legislation to penalize telecommunications companies that fail to properly manage and clean up their cables.
The city council invited representatives from BENECO and telecommunications companies (telcos) to a forum during its regular session on October 28, 2024 to thresh out problems related to spaghetti wires.
While BENECO representative Ramel Rifani asserted that it’s the telcos’ responsibility to clean up their inactive cables still hanging across the posts, the councilors argued that BENECO should bear greater accountability in this matter, given that the electric cooperative leases its poles to telcos for wire attachments.
“This problem rests on BENECO’s shoulders because telecommunication wires are attached to its electric poles,” Councilor Benny Bomogao said.
Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda claimed that the issue with problematic wires stemmed from BENECO’s joint pole agreements with telcos, thus, BENECO is solely responsible for correcting the problem.
Councilor Peter Fianza likewise stressed that the onus is on BENECO as it has the authority to set conditions to the telcos on proper cable management through its contracts with them.
“The poles belong to you. You should maintain and take care of them. Whatever contracts you have with the telcos, you are the one primarily responsible. If they don’t comply with the contracts, what will you do?” Fianza said.
Referencing legal cases involving LGUs, electric cooperatives, and telcos, Fianza raised the prospect of compelling BENECO to pay regulatory fees to the city government to help maintain the city’s electric poles including the removal of spaghetti wires.
The issue of dangling wires has been longstanding, with Mayor Benjamin Magalong ordering the telcos to address tangled and dangling wires within 180 days in 2019.
Despite this directive, the problem persists.
Barangay officials present at the forum also expressed frustration over the lack of action on this issue and the “poor practices” by telcos in attaching wires which contribute to the problem.
On October 8, 2024, Magalong issued Memorandum No. 138-24 ordering the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) and punong barangays to identify and later remove or secure all unused telecommunication wires to prevent potential accidents or injuries.
The memorandum also states that the required height standards for wires on sidewalks are 16 ft. above the ground and for public roads are 18 ft. above the ground.
Following a directive from Liga ng mga Barangay President Rocky Aliping, barangay officials documented all dangling wires and those failing to meet required height standards within their jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, the POSD has taken a more proactive approach by carefully removing dead wires from electric posts.
POSD Head Daryll Longid estimated that about 40-70% of the attached wires are inactive lines.
He added that the main causes of wire overloading on posts are poor housekeeping by telcos, the abandonment of non-functioning cables, and a lack of aerial cabling routes.
“Poor housekeeping is the primary cause of this problem. Telcos should be more proactive in cleaning up their lines. As part of their corporate social responsibility, if they see inactive lines from other telcos during their operations, they should remove them,” Longid stated.
Telco representatives said they will check for any remaining copper wires hanging on posts to be removed as all telcos have already migrated to fiber optic wires.
They assured city officials that their companies will make every effort to remove all inactive lines and copper wires to avoid passing the burden of removal to the city government.
Longid suggested collaborating with telco teams to formulate practical and time-bound steps for eliminating tangled and dangling wires.
Regarding the possible cutting of their wires by BENECO due to unresolved issues, the telco representatives requested more time to do their cleanup operations as the public would suffer from massive internet and telephone disconnections.
According to Rifani, in support of the mayor’s recent memorandum, BENECO has suspended the approval of attachment requests of telcos and continues to remind them of their responsibility to clear poles to prevent the accumulation of dangling and tangled wires.
However, the councilors urged BENECO to be more aggressive in solving the problem and to go beyond mere reminders to telcos about cleaning up their wires.
Rifani added that BENECO intends to amend its joint pole agreements with telcos after they lapse at the end of the year to impose stricter penalties on telcos that fail to comply with safety standards such as the required height for attached wires.
He likewise mentioned that before the COVID-19 pandemic, a single-pole policy was enforced by the city government.
He stated that reinstating this policy would help address the issue.
Acting Vice Mayor and Councilor Jose Molintas pointed out that the Baguio City Council enacted Ordinance 34-2024 establishing an administrative board aimed at addressing public nuisances that jeopardize public safety including spaghetti wires.
The administrative board will handle complaints and hold hearings.
Molintas, the main author of the ordinance, stated that this local law aims to provide entities (in this case, telcos) with due process after a complaint has been filed against them.
“This ordinance gives the city government the power to remove public nuisances such as dangling wires at the expense of the telcos,”Molintas said.
The city council referred the matter to the Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Traffic Legislation and directed it to draft legislation to address the issue.
Share