CCTO reminds traffic violators: Cases will be filed if fines not paid

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) is urging motorists who have violations to immediately settle their fines in order to prevent bigger problems like being sued in court.

In 2023, CCTO sued close to 1,800 motorists for various traffic violations and around half of the total number of violators settled their penalties and avoided jail time.

Out of the total number, only 894 of them have settled their penalties after they received summons from the local court.

For this January to June this year, CCTO have also sued 324 violators.

Of the 324 motorists, 213 already settled their penalties accordingly.

CCTO’s assistant operations head, Jounald Bautista, urged motorists with pending violations to immediately settle within three days to avoid jail time.

“Akong awhag sa atong mga kaigsuonang motorista nga ayaw ninyo huwata nga moabot sa korte ang inyong violation,” Bautista said through the City’s Sugboanon channel.

Corazon “Sonnie” Yrog-Yrog, acting head of CCTO’s Traffic Education Section, also echoed Bautista’s call while also advising violators to immediately pay their fines to avoid paying more.

Yrog-Yrog cited that one violator got arrested in Mandaue City after police discovered that he had a bench warrant issued against him while he was applying for a police clearance.

Yrog-Yrog said the violator may face jail time or post bail, but should not be the case if only he paid for the fine.

“P1,000 raman ang fine kung ma-issuehan og citation ticket. Pero kung dili ninyo tagdon inyong violation ug moabot na siya sa korte, mas modako pana ang inyong mabayran,” Yrog-yrog said.

In line with this, CCTO also advised jeepney operators to regularly check their office to know whether or not their drivers or their units have incurred traffic violations.

This as CCTO’s sectoral over-all supervisor Manuel Tagaan, said his office often receives complaints from operators after finding out they were included in traffic cases filed when they did not personally incur the violation.

“Kung ang driver dakpon, ang pending violation ana naa sa iyang lisensya ug sa iyang sakyanan kay iapil man ang plate number sa record,” Tagaan disclosed.

“Mao na among gi-advise sa mga operators nga kinahanglan nga kung gusto ninyo inyong sakyanan clear, kada bulan moadto mo sa among opisina aron ma-monitor kung ang inyong driver tarung ba ug dili violator,” Tagaan added.

Jeepney operators are also advised to require their drivers to secure a certification from CCTO that would attest that the vehicle registration of their unit has no pending violations to avoid any hassle. - /ATO (FREEMAN)