BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan expressed support for checkpoints in the 128 barangays of the city.
In the weekly Ugnayang Panglunsod, the chief executive reiterated the move by the taxi drivers in the region as a good measure following the recent death of a taxi driver who was hammered in the head by an 18-year old construction worker along Dominican hill.
“I have no objection to that suggestion but the problem we have with tanods being the implementors of checkpoints is the position of the audit. Tanods (village watchmen) receive their honorarium from their barangays but the problem here is that we have many barangays who could not comply with the criteria of the barangay and under the local government code, plain and simple, their personal services budget is not enough as the source of honorarium for the tanods,” Domogan said.
Earlier, the taxi drivers in the region were looking at ways on how to give additional security for taxi drivers plying the different city particularly during the evenings by submitting a petition to the city council allowing the establishment of barangay checkpoints.
Damper Philippines-Taxi drivers Association Cordillera President James Bolinao explained an initiative must be done to prevent different criminal activities from happening again.
“I see nothing wrong with the suggestion of our taxi drivers. Actually, we have always been doing this through our police but what we have to consider is the manpower. Second, this recent incident may be considered as an isolated case and third, I think we have to look at the attitude and character of our taxi drivers,” Domogan added.
Domogan suggested the re-implementation of the taxi signaling system introduced by then BCPO city director Jesus Cambay as an additional measure for the taxi groups to consider.
Under the signaling system, taxi drivers are given access to inform police stations in the city of questionable passengers they would ferry and allow them to be flagged down by authorities.