Sunday, March 18, 2007 Truckers told: Shun roads with numerous traffic personnel By Jane Cadalig
TO AVOID arrests, vegetable truckers from Benguet were told to avoid traversing routes in Metro Manila with several traffic personnel assigned.
Antonio Pagulayan Jr., head of the Roadside Arbitration and Inspectorate Group of the Metro Manila Development Authority, advised drivers delivering vegetables to the Manila markets to keep away from the major roads where there are several MMDA personnel to be spared from the apprehensions.
Vegetable truckers have been complaining of numerous arrests that reportedly often led to extortion whenever they deliver agricultural produce to the markets in the National Capital Region.
Pagulayan said delivery trucks are most susceptible to apprehension. Traffic personnel usually check if these vehicles are properly secured but the drivers often end up giving money to the traffic enforcer to avoid delay or the confiscation of their license.
Pagulayan admitted that extortion has become a "part of the traffic enforcement system" but added the MMDA is implementing measures to eradicate the practice.
"The MMDA is implementing an outright termination of personnel caught extorting from motorists," he told reporters in an interview during the 5th National Vegetable Congress in Tagaytay City.
The Epifanio Delos Santos Ave. or EDSA, Commonwealth Ave. Mc Arthur Highway and Quirino Ave. were identified as among the routes where most of the MMDA traffic personnel are deployed.
There are around 1,700 MMDA personnel but Pagulayan said not all of them are authorized to apprehend motorists.
Vegetable delivery trucks are exempted from the ongoing truck ban in some of the major routes in the NCR. This is to ensure the continuous delivery of agricultural crops to the end markets and avoid losses to the farmers and traders.
Pagulayan said MMDA is studying the possibility of expanding these routes, also called as the food lane routes, to ensure the access of delivery trucks to the market.
