Osmeña cancels traffic violations of honest driver

Mayor Tomas Osmeña finally agreed to cancel the traffic violations committed by public utility jeepney driver Ronie Rudinas as reward for his honesty in returning the checks contained in an envelope he found in his vehicle the other day.

Records at the City Traffic Operations Management disclosed that Rudinas incurred at least 208 violations amounting to P42,500 since he started driving in 1996. With a lofty compromise, he would only be paying P100 to clear his record with the CITOM.

This is even on top of the P5,000 that Osmeña reportedly gave him the other day.

Rudinas' CITOM records include violations of the "no stopping" and "no entry" signs, using defective headlights, and smoke belching.

"Wala ko magdahum nga mahatagan ko ani. Salamat kaayo, makatabang na kaayo ni'g dako," said Rudinas, who plies the Mabolo-Jones Avenue route and resides in Banawa, Guadalupe.

Rudinas, 36, found the envelope under the passengers' seat of his jeepney when he was about to clean the vehicle after breakfast Tuesday. He then proceeded home to tell his wife about it and subsequently decided to turn the envelope over to the City Hall.

The envelope contained three sets of checks - the two worth P67,700 and P268,637 were for deposit while the other one worth P95,914 was "pay to cash". The 23 Metrobank checks that totaled P433,311 were under the name of Koc Suan Dy.

Osmeña earlier said he would reward Rudinas appropriately so he would not be a "laughing stock" among his fellow drivers who may not agree with his returning the checks.

"When I see drivers like these, I feel very, very encouraged that there's hope and the hope comes from ordinary people with strong sense of values," the mayor said. -Joeberth M. Ocao