Drivers decry wanton arrests
The Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) has called for a stop to the widespread and arbitrary arrests of drivers of passenger jeepneys plying various routes in the city.
The group held a mobile picket last Friday to protest what they dub as pure acts of harassment against the drivers.
In a statement, Jun Abellon of Piston-Panay said the city government has showed its callousness when it even boasted of collecting around P1.2 million income for the first three months of this year from the so-called traffic violation fines.
"This is not surprising to us. People can see the blue uniformed men of the local city government assiduously arresting drivers - as if their sole and only task is to arrest drivers and not to ensure the smooth flow of traffic,"Abellon said.
Abellon said the city government through its Traffic Management and Engineering Unit (TMEU) merely concerns itself about apprehending drivers slapping them with all sorts of fines which they consider as income.
Abellon said traffic auxiliaries do not bother to warn drivers and commuters alike to refrain from non designated loading and unloading areas (a common traffic violation); instead, they stand on the sides waiting for drivers to commit the violation then happily get out from their hiding areas and slap the drivers with tickets.
"Once they are apprehended they are slapped with a TOP which they have to pay at the city hall. As in most cases their tickets are written only with the very deceptive title of "Loading/Unloading" violation. Believing that they are to pay P40 for this violation (Ordinance 78 Section 2-B Loading/Unloading in Prohibited Zones) they find out that they instead have to pay P100 because they are charged with Ordinance 170 (same violation of loading/unloading in non-designated area but which however authorizes the arresting officer to arrest and penalize both the driver and the commuter with a P100 and a P50 fine respectively," Abellon said.
Abellon further claimed, "these loading/unloading areas are movable, placed in irrational areas (very limited space to accommodate the commuters waiting for a ride) or its implementation is arbitrarily dependent on the blue men themselves who would sometimes make the arrest depending on their mood."
Abellon expressed fears that with the pending proposal to increase fines for common traffic violations pending in the City Council, the drivers could expect more arrests to come with heavier fines to pay.