Wednesday, October 08, 2008 Cops to demand ID of cab drivers, passengers By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
WHEN riding home in a taxi late at night, better be prepared with a valid identification card.
This as the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) is mulling over the suggestion of taxicab drivers and operators to conduct stop checks on their passengers and save them from thieves, who may take more than their day's earnings.
Aside from this, taxicab drivers will also be enjoined to use the city's major roads, as these are well-lighted, thus lessening the possibility of them getting held up by robbers posing as passengers.
These safety measures were posed during a dialogue held between representatives of local public utility transport groups and the BCPO, where the city's traffic situation -- its problems and possible solutions -- were discussed last Saturday afternoon.
According to Senior Superintendent Wilfredo Franco, newly designated BCPO director, the meeting was set up to improve cooperation between both groups, and to lessen possible conflicts between public utility drivers and traffic enforcers in Baguio City.
Attended by officers and members of various transport groups led by Perfecto Itliong Jr., head of the Public Transport Affairs Office and concurrent president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Associations in Baguio, Benguet and La Union, the meeting was held in the Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Commerce and Industry office along Gov. Pack Road last Saturday.
Discussed then were the prevailing traffic rules and regulations being implemented in Baguio, as well as the transport groups' respective concerns.
Fraco said, after the dialogue, that traffic enforcers will be required to exercise maximum tolerance, while drivers will also be expected to obey traffic rules and regulations to avoid penalties and conflicts.
During the dialogue, Franco told everyone present that the BCPO will adopt a "safety checkpoint" system where taxi drivers will be required to pass by these checkpoints.
In Baguio City, the identification cards of taxi drivers and their passengers will be checked to ensure everybody inside the taxi will be safe. Personnel in checkpoints can also make a visual search in the exercise of a city ordinance.
"Drivers are advised to use our main roads, especially at night, because these are the streets that are well-lighted," he said.
"The city of Baguio is a tourist destination and a center of education in the north. Foreign and local visitors come to Baguio to enjoy its cool breeze and sceneries, while students flock to our prestigious universities and colleges. These make business and the transport industry alive, soliciting a boom in the economy of the city," Franco pointed out.
"However, our transport groups are having problems because there are too many vehicles in our streets, and there is no more room for additional roads or the widening of these roads," he explained.
According to Franco, the three most important traffic concerns of the BCPO are the safety of passengers and drivers against criminal elements; the continuing program of the BCPO to help the City Government and national agencies in enforcing traffic discipline in the streets; and traffic management factors like engineering (building structures like wider and more roads, flyovers, etc.), education (the awareness of drivers on traffic rules and regulations, as well as the improvement of the licensing process), and enforcement (what they can do as law enforcers).
Other concerns about the loading and unloading zones, taxi stands, routes, as well as parking and staging areas were also discussed.
Franco also promised to confer with officials of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and other concerned agencies about the prevailing traffic situation and to make recommendations regarding the problems mentioned.
He stressed that cooperation and discipline are needed to make all of these efforts successful and beneficial for drivers, passengers and traffic enforcers.
He said traffic discipline should be observed because violations of drivers will be monitored, and after three violations, a letter will be forwarded to their respective organizations for appropriate action.
Around 8 a.m. Sunday, Franco also met with school service operators at Solibao Restaurant in Burnham Park to discuss their concerns.
