‘Hampas sa kabayo, latay sa kalabaw?’

Today’s column title is an old Filipino adage that refers to “hitting the horse but wounding or leaving the lashes on the carabao.”

The Toll Regulatory Board, the LTO (Land Transportation Office) and the DOTr (Department of Transportation) recently issued a joint memorandum to impose fines on motorists who use tollways or expressways without an ETC or Electronic Toll Collection device or the RFID.

The memorandum states that a fine of P1,000 for the first offense, P2,000 for the second offense and P5,000 for the third offense will be imposed. Similar fines will also be imposed on motorists who use the tollways with insufficient load balance.

The intent is to make motorists without RFIDs comply and to reduce bottlenecks and delays at toll booths. The memorandum may exemplify political will on the part of the concerned government agencies, but in cracking the whip against the non-users of RFIDs and low balance users, the Joint Memorandum ended up leaving whip marks on toll operators.

If you check the amount of negative comments and curses hurled against operators, it is safe to say that the TRB-LTO-DOTr did more damage to the operators than any typhoon ever did. All of a sudden, netizens were stating, sharing, comparing and complaining about every imaginable infraction or shortcoming they experienced on various expressways.

I have long been an advocate of the use of RFID on toll roads/expressways all over Luzon. But the recent announcement that effective Aug. 31, all expressways will be RFID only and anyone who does not have an RFID or has a low balance will be accosted and fined is very wrong in many ways.

In the many years we have used the different versions of RFID, applied for different stickers and cards for different expressways, we have also had the experience of having a low balance at least once or twice because we changed credit cards and had to physically go to a toll office and the update can be slow or delayed.

I know drivers who can’t do anything about it because they are only drivers, and the vehicle owner does not want to pay for an RFID since they don’t drive or regularly use the expressway. So, who will they slap the P1,000 fine on? The poor driver or the registered owner?

In these times of high inflation and economic challenges, everybody wants to save money and not spend on something they barely get to use and that comes with complications. The arguments raised by the Federation of Free Workers is interesting because they pointed out that refusing or removing the single cash lane may be an act violating the law on “legal tender.” In other words, the law says you have to accept cash issued by the Republic of the Philippines.

The TRB should also conduct studies on how many RFID users actually have an automatic debit system or loading for RFIDS. My impression is that majority don’t use their credit cards for fear of unauthorized use, and many rely on GCash and load as needed.

The problem is you only know you’re balance is low when you get to the toll booth. Many motorists complain that there is no digital recording or receipting system that users can view to check trips, fees and balance.

I totally understand the arguments raised by the TRB and operators regarding efficiency and effect on traffic by vehicles with no RFID, but to impose a P1K-P2K-P5K fine is making criminals of the violators. Having a low balance at the gate that is probably below P1,000 at the most does not even constitute actual estafa because the driver can be prevented access or entry almost instantly.

Delay and inconvenience is punishment enough. Instead of persecuting vehicle owners unjustly, the TRB should make it easier to get an RFID sticker.

Early this year, I needed an RFID and decided to hire someone to take my car to the C-5 roadside registration, because I was afraid of being hit or run over by speeding cars along C-5 while waiting in line at such a high-risk area. If the NSA, LTO, BIR, etc. can set up kiosks in malls and commercial districts, why not the TRB?

If the TRB and operators want full compliance, they should conduct RFID registration and installation regularly and not once in a blue moon. If the automotive and truck industry reports quarterly increases in vehicle sales, that alone tells us that the RFID campaign has to be done quarterly at the very least.

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While going through the local news over the long weekend, I read about the projected delay on the completion of the MRT-7 because the local government officials of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan have expressed their opposition to a feature or station location of the project that is designed to pass through SJDM and benefit hundreds of thousands of future riders.

The problem with the opposition is that it was manifested too late in the course of the project, and it will entail tremendous costs, require an automatic review by the NEDA board and incur lost opportunities and inconvenience to the millions of potential riders. Even more interesting was that no legal, scientific or logical reasons were publicly stated.

This reminds me of the time when local government units took it upon themselves to impose the controversial Special Purpose Permits for every cell tower being built by the telecos just because they could do so. Malacañang and the Court of Appeals put a stop to the extortionary acts back then.

Let’s hope that President Bongbong Marcos and DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos can step in on this anti-business and anti-people situation concerning the MRT-7 and literally put it back on track!

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