City dad to lead probe on 'tampered' ordinance
City Councilor Erwin Plagata, chair of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on transportation, is bent on conducting an investigation on the alleged tampering of City Ordinance 132 which allows public utility jeepneys under the Metro Iloilo Development Council (MIDC) access to the city routes
A source reached by The News Today (TNT) said a "top city official" could be behind the tampering of the ordinance because it could not be done by people who have no access to the voluminous records of city ordinances at the SP.
A copy of the alleged tampered ordinance that reached Plagata's hands states that the MIDC public utility jeepneys are allowed to ply SM City to Iloilo City route. Article 10 of the said City Ordinance said they are free to pass through Diversion Road and Benigno Aquino Avenue all the way to the city proper. Copies of the so-called tampered ordinance were provided to different driver organizations.
The MIDC member towns are Oton, Leganes, San Miguel, Sta. Barbara and Leon. It is observed that the Leganes route passes through all of the city's major routes.
Plagata said the tampered ordinance was enacted in 1978 when big malls did not yet exist.
Plagata said the distribution of the "tampered ordinance" was meant to disrupt the full implementation of the Perimeriter Boundary Ordinance (PBO) which he is pushing through. He did not give any hint on who is behind the tampering but he wants to pursue an investigation.
The council, during its September 19, 2007 session gave Mayor Jerry Treñas an authority to implement a 30-day traffic experimentation to affect MIDC jeepneys and Antique bound routes.