Tricycle and motorcycle lane only

After failing to get the attention of mayors and local government officials to clear national roads of tricycles, DILG Secretary Ed Año has found the right tool to force the issue and make LGUs cooperate. Banking on a presidential order to reclaim all public roads and clear them of obstructions, Secretary Año recently ordered all mayors and barangay officials to remove tricycles from national roads or to address the matter by forming their committees or task force to find ways and means or be charged in the Office of the Ombudsman and or suspended automatically for non-compliance with a presidential directive.

As expected, many local officials have pointed to the political sensitivity of the matter and requested that the police or the LTO be deployed to go after tricycles on national roads lest the association of tricycle drivers and operators get mad and get even with local politicians and vote them out of office. This of course has happened in the past but back then those who suffered the wrath of drivers and operators, were not backed by the DILG or a presidential directive. We recently invited Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya of the DILG, Atty. Ariel Inton, founder of Lawyers for Commuters’ Safety and Protection, and Ariel Lim who heads one of the largest confederation of tricycle drivers and operators to discuss the issue on our TV program AGENDA on Cignal TV and these are just some of the discoveries we learned:

First of all, the full implementation of the ban or management of tricycles will be enforced on May 1, 2020. For now, they are merely doing limited arrests based on a pre-existing law prohibiting tricycles on national roads. According to Usec. Malaya the DILG has placed the burden of dealing with the tricycles because the mayor’s office collects money from the tricycles by way of fees for “business permit” and for a “three-year tricycle franchise.” The move also forces the LGUs to “localize” their solutions based on their road network and community needs. Depending on the area, city or province the fees charged by a mayor’s office can go from a few hundred pesos to several thousand pesos. In some places where there is a moratorium or intentional stranglehold on those franchise, anyone trying to buy one could end up paying as much as P50,000 or more to buy a franchise from an existing owner. It seems that in some towns the mayor owns as many as ten to 50 tricycles, and in others the LGU refuses to allow environmentally friendly e-trikes because local officials supply spare parts, gasoline, oil etc. for traditional tricycles. Clearly it is the LGU that makes the money while the DILG gets all the complaints especially from radio anchors at DZMM and DZBB.

Ariel Lim speaking on behalf of tricycle operators pointed out that on top of the required business permit and franchise fee from the mayor’s office, tricycles just like cars, jeeps, trucks and vans, are also charged a Road Users Tax of around P800 to P1000. So why can’t they enjoy the same roads as other vehicle owners do? In support of this, Ariel Inton’s group of lawyers went to court to seek clarification on what falls under the DILG’s definition of “national roads.” Apart from that our panelist discussed the reality that in many parts of the Philippines, the National Road is often the only road that connects different towns or barangays. In addition, many tricycles on provincial – national roads are not necessarily tricycles “For Hire” but are service vehicles. As such it would be almost impossible to distinguish between the legal trikes with franchise versus the colorum versus “service tricycles”.

As the discussion progressed, Ariel Lim, Ariel Inton and myself cited numerous places in Metro Manila and the provinces that once had dedicated tricycle lanes such as Katipunan road along the old Loyola Heights neighborhood, in Lipa City, and currently in Iloilo City. These and many other examples had one thing in common; those lanes had a concrete island or barrier to prevent other vehicles from entering or blocking those lanes. Ironically, when the DPWH did their road expansion projects those barriers were demolished and never replaced. Ariel Lim shared that back when Gloria Arroyo was president and Larry Mendoza was the DOTC secretary they all agreed that such dedicated lanes with islands would be the best solution. Unfortunately three presidencies have failed to implement what is known to have worked and works for places such as Iloilo City.

The only possible reason would have to be corruption! If concrete barriers for motorcycles were placed on EDSA, the buses will no longer rule the yellow lane and still swerve in and out. It is public knowledge that millions of grease money goes around to keep bus companies free from hassles and regulation. The other parties that don’t want such barriers are LGUs and business establishments who have long gotten away with using streets as “customer parking.” Back in the old days when Katipunan had a “service lane,” the business establishments had their own parking within their property. But now the buildings are maxed out to the sidewalk and parking took over the roads.

It remains to be seen if the DILG will be able to get Secretary Mark Villar’s attention on the matter. But in the mean time it would seem that the only way to solve the problem is for Ariel Lim and his millions of allies to decide to be the solution instead of the problem. I suggested to his group that they voluntarily stay on the rightmost side of all national roads, lay claim to that “imaginary lane” and force both local government and the DILG to respect and establish it as “Tricycle and motorcycle lane Only.”

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