Wednesday, October 01, 2008 The Roads to Perdition: Overloading in Pampanga
(Second of 3 parts)
MEYNARD Calma, 48, of Manibaug Pasig in Porac town, has been a truck driver for almost five years. He traverses the routes along the sand-rich Porac town to haul sand for his employer's clients in Metro Manila.
During his daily trips, he could not help but notice the deteriorating roads along the Porac-Guagua-Santa Rita routes. He admits that somehow drivers like him have something to do with the damage.
And like him, it is a known fact among local commuters and residents that quarry trucks have been one of the major culprits in the deterioration of the major roads in Pampanga.
Federation of Quarry Associations (FQA) president Mike Tapang estimates that around 3,000 trucks of various sizes traverse various routes in Pampanga leading to major quarry sites each day.
If Tapang is to be asked, he would admit that there is, in fact, "overloading" among quarry haulers.
In an interview recently with Tapang, he said Pampanga should also look into overloaded quarry trucks coming from Tarlac and Zambales that have been using portions of the province's roads.
Tapang admitted that overloading do happen among quarry truckers. This, he said, was brought about by the price competition among quarry truckers in and outside of the province.
He said truckers usually get a net income of only P400 to P500 per truckload of sand they bring to Manila. Coupled by fuel expenses and other miscellaneous costs, haulers would haul more to compete in the market, according to Tapang.
Because of this cut-throat business, some sand haulers remodel their trucks, adding more height and weight capacities to accommodate more sand. Aside from the 10-wheeler trucks that are commonly used for hauling sand, 18-wheeler, and even 30-wheeler trucks are now also being used in hauling sand.
Tapang said they are policing their own ranks and urging fellow truck operators to abide by the Anti-Overloading Law. He said it would be easy to compel truckers to follow the overloading law more strictly if there are local laws to complement it.
Tapang, who is also president of the Sand and Quarry Association in Porac, said this could only be achieved through an ordinance that will create a mechanism of monitoring and providing security for the quarry industry.
"The price of sand is dictated by buyers in Manila, so truckers only earn with as much sand as they could haul. But if the anti-overloading law is strictly implemented, buyers will have no choice but to follow the price of the haulers. If haulers now earn what they should, there is no longer any reason to overload trucks," he said.
He said they are willing to coordinate with agencies like the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
"We do not want people to get mad at us. We know that roads and bridges have been damaged but we are making our steps in putting a stop to it," Tapang said, adding that he is also urging his colleagues to have social responsibility and follow the law.
But most stakeholders in local road safety said the problem comes with the seemingly toothless implementation of the law and low fines being imposed on erring truckers.
Lack of an effective program to curtail overloading, lack of weigh scales to weigh overloaded trucks, and "minimal" fines have resulted in the still proliferating problem of overloading.
In a study conducted by the Road Information and Management Support System (Rimss) from January to October 2006, the highest offenses took place in Northern Luzon, especially on the Manila North Road in Regions 1 and 3, Cagayan Valley Road in Regions 2 and 3 and San Fernando-Olongapo Road here.
In Pampanga, for instance, the Leoncia and the Manibaug bridges were badly damaged by overloaded vehicles. This was coupled by kilometers and kilometers of damaged road pavements along national and local roads being used by quarry trucks. Aside from this, road mishaps involving trucks have aggravated damage to life and property.
Tapang said when an overloaded truck collides with another vehicle, even in average speed, the damage would be considerable because of the weight of the truck.
This glaring statistics had mobilized the Pampanga Provincial Board (PB), through the prodding of groups like the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon, to convene all stakeholders and device ways to effectively implement the law.
The ADCL, DPWH, Pampanga Provincial Police Office and the LTO appeared before the PB special committee more than a month ago to give the needed data and insights on the drafting of an ordinance against overloading. (IOF)
