5 more erring drivers fall

CEBU, Philippines - Five more drivers wanted for unsettled traffic violations have been arrested by the operatives of the City Traffic Operations and Management in the past two days.

The five were among the 59 drivers issued with warrant of arrest by Municipal Trial Court in Cities Judge Monalila Tecson.

CITOM operations officer Jonathan Tumulak identified the arrested drivers as Ronald Panonce, with P91,100 unsettled fines; Teoben Tomakin, P11,500; Larry Boy Ortiz, P172,600; Rey Villarin, P25,200; and Danilo Tamayo, P64,500.

Tumulak said Villarin and Tamayo went to CITOM office yesterday to verify if they were among those who were issued with warrant of arrest.

“So, niadto sila sa office aron motan-aw nga naa ba sila’y warrant ug kon pila ang ilang pending violation. Sa ilang paghatag sa ilang license, gi-hold na sila kay nahibaw-an nga naa gyod silay pending violations,” Tumulak said.

CITOM operatives have, so far, arrested seven out of the 59 drivers wanted for traffic violations. Tumulak urged public and private drivers to visit CITOM office to verify if they have pending violations.

“Awhag nga naa lay maka-verify sa inyong pangalan sa opisina unya ma-settle inyong mga violations. Pwede man mo-hangyo or mo-compromise lang sa opisina aron maminosan ilang bayronon,” he said.

He said that CITOM has already identified the possible location of the rest of the erring drivers through the social networking site Facebook. Tumulak reminded the drivers not to disregard the citation tickets to avoid further cases.

Tumulak said the city government is not after the collection of unsettled fines but rather wants to instill road discipline.

Tumulak said CITOM has recently filed complaints against 140 erring drivers before the Land Transportation Office.

“Makasiguro mi nga kon makaluwas sila sa CITOM, dili sila makaluwas kon mag-renew na sa ilang lisensya kay gi-alarma man pod nato ang LTO,” he said, adding that they will not stop their operations until drivers will be disciplined.— (FREEMAN)