Standing his ground

“Paulit-ulit na lang tayo, Sir. Alam ninyo naman talaga may mandate natin dito.” The Department of Transportation—Special Action and Intelligence Committee on Transportation (DOTr-SAICT) enforcer who stopped the PNP convoy allegedly using the EDSA carousel going to Camp Crame should be emulated. Even when confronted by police officers he stood his ground and remained firm to their mandate to apprehend anyone not authorized to use the EDSA lane.

PNP chief Gen. Rommel Marbil has already spoken on the matter. He did not want to say if he or another high-ranking officer was riding in the convoy. Since the license plates of the apprehended vehicles have been made public, he did not want to name the passengers for their security. He also explained the convoy was going to Camp Crame for an emergency meeting which is why they chose to use the EDSA carousel. The enforcer lamented the lack of coordination. Gen. Marbil did not contest the apprehension and agreed for the vehicles to be ticketed. But he was also asking for some courtesy from the enforcer. If the enforcer saw the blinkers were on, he should have known it was an emergency.

I understand that not all information can be made public, especially if it's something sensitive, for example, that meeting in Crame. I'm sure that whoever was riding in the convoy instructed his driver to use the EDSA carousel. The only problem I see with that is anyone can now use the same reasoning. Be it a government employee, secretary, senator, congressman, or even their relatives. All that needs to be said is, this is an emergency. How can SAICT enforcers be sure it's a real emergency? How can they confirm?

This is what's wrong when there are such exemptions. What if it's a delivery driver delivering much-needed medicine? What if someone’s house is on fire which is why they need to rush back home? What if the wife is giving birth? What if an entitled, rich, or wannabe VIP with bodyguards have blinkers on their vehicles, should they just ignore them because it's an emergency? I thought the use of blinkers on private vehicles had been banned. Those are just a few of the reasons that can be used to justify using the carousel lane. If the EDSA carousel will only be abused, maybe it's time for it to be dismantled so we can all equally suffer the horrendous traffic. No more special treatment.