EDITORIAL — NCAP abuses

The no-contact apprehension policy has been back since May 26 last year, after the Supreme Court partially lifted its temporary restraining order issued on NCAP in Metro Manila.

Last week, the SC lifted the TRO on local government units that implemented their own versions of NCAP. LGUs, however, were reminded by the SC that it had not ruled on the validity of the policy – meaning the NCAP can be challenged and restrained again, if motorists and transport groups feel aggrieved.

The SC had initially lifted its TRO only for the NCAP of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which had been implementing the program since 1995 to enforce traffic discipline. This NCAP went digital in 2002, and was fully launched in 2016, with the MMDA getting relatively few challenges.

But complaints surged when several Metro Manila LGUs decided to implement their own versions of NCAP, outsourcing traffic enforcement and collection of fines to a private company, QPax Traffic Systems Inc., and giving the company the lion’s share of the fees collected.

And the fees were exorbitant, raising howls particularly from mass transport and delivery drivers. One of the petitioners found it necessary to seek redress from the SC in 2022 after being slapped with accumulated fines of P30,000.

Motorists complained that the local NCAP was far worse than the extortion by “kotong” or corrupt traffic enforcers. The system also fined the registered owner of the vehicle rather than the driver.

It was also difficult to challenge supposed traffic infractions. The system smacked of arbitrariness whose principal aim was fund-raising.

Several cities such as Manila gained notoriety for so-called NCAP traps, with traffic countdown timers removed in wide intersections and stoplights installed even in low-traffic street corners.

These local NCAP programs overlapped with that of the MMDA, whose officials groused that their NCAP was not handled by a private company and received few complaints about abuses.

The SC, in its ruling last week, said the 2022 petitions were rendered moot by the adoption of the Metro Manila Traffic Code of 2023, which harmonized traffic enforcement across the National Capital Region, established a standardized single ticketing system and unified traffic fines. So there’s no need for LGUs to launch their own privately run NCAP versions.

Last week, the MMDA together with the Department of Information and Communications Technology launched online services for NCAP, making it easier to check traffic violations and pay fines through the eGov Super App.

This system appears to be working, and there’s no need for LGUs to implement their own NCAP for fund-raising. Ordinary motorists are burdened enough with high fuel prices and steep road tolls because the government is unable to build toll-free thoroughfares. NCAP should not add to these burdens.