Traffic enforcers are complaining against Tisa barangay captain Eduardo Cabulao for his alleged intervention when tricycle drivers are apprehended for operating in roads not allowed for them.
Arnel Tancinco, executive officer of the City Traffic Operations Management, explained that they will apprehend tricycle drivers caught plying the main roads, where traffic is heavy, to minimize traffic congestion.
He said these three-wheeled vehicles do not have franchise to operate as vehicle for hire, but the city is lenient on that, on the condition that they will not ply the busy streets.
Some of the busy streets where tricycles operate include F. Llamas Street in barangay Punta Princesa, Katipunan Street in barangay Labangon and Natalio Bacalso Avenue.
Tancinco said while his personnel are religiously enforcing the traffic law by apprehending tricycles that violate the guidelines, Cabulao allegedly tried to meddle by scolding the traffic enforcers.
Tancinco said he had instructed his men to implement the law without fear and favor.
“Wa g’yod ta’y mahimo gawas sa pagdakop sa mga tricycle drivers kun masakpan sila nga nag-operate sa mga karsada nga wala itugot kanila,” Tancinco later told The FREEMAN.
The FREEMAN tried to contact Cabulao for comment but failed.
It was observed that the number of tricycle units in the city has considerably increased, prompting Citom to request for legislative intervention to regulate their operation.
Councilor Joey Daluz III acknowledged that the tricycles are not illegal modes of transportation but they have to be regulated.
There is a proposal that the existing operators are the only ones who could apply for registration with the motorcycle board, and each of them is limited only to register at most two units.
Unlike the taxi business in which an operator could own fleet of vehicles, Daluz said the number of tricycle units a person is allowed to have should be controlled. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB