IF YOU have been recently fined in Talisay City for a traffic violation, settle it as soon as possible.

The Talisay City Government started suing 300 drivers before the fiscal’s office on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019, for failing to do so.

They were among the more than 2,000 motorists who had been apprehended by the City of Talisay Traffic Operations and Development Authority (CT-TODA) since July 9 this year.

Jonathan Tumulak, CT-TODA head, said it took him almost a month to prepare the case dockets for the 300 violators as his office needed to complete all necessary documents before proceeding with the filing of charges.

Based on the City’s traffic code, violators who receive citation tickets have three days to appear at the CT-TODA office to pay their fines.

Failure to do so means the violator waives his right to due process and the City can go ahead and file charges before the Talisay City Prosecutor’s Office.

Once the charges are filed, the local prosecutor’s office will issue subpoenas to the violators.

If the violator fails to appear after receiving the subpoena, he can be arrested and face penalties of at least P3,000, depending on the court’s discretion.

Most of the violators were caught violating the city’s “no helmet, no driving” policy and other violations, such as illegal obstruction in major thoroughfares, driving without a license and illegal parking, among others.

The fine for driving without a helmet is between P300 and P500. The fine for the other violations is P500.

Tumulak said CT-TODA is going after erring motorists to show that the City Government under Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. is serious in implementing traffic laws.

Tumulak said he is waiting for the City Council to amend Talisay’s traffic code, particularly increasing the cost of penalties for violations from P500 to P1,000.

Tumulak said it was high time to amend the traffic code, which was first enacted in 2012. (from FMD of Superbalita Cebu/JKV)