Tsikot Portal Categories: Traffic, Fuel, Infrastructure
Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) yesterday said there is a need to raise traffic fines in view of the rising number of road accidents.
But public transport groups protesting the agency’s refusal to defer raising the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) fines for traffic violations have vowed to conduct a nationwide transport strike on April 3.
Efren de Luna, national president of the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO), said his group and allies such as the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP), the Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, and the Makati Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (MJODA), have agreed to join forces to stage the nationwide protest action next Friday.
“That’s what we have agreed on after a meeting earlier today. Obviously the DOTC will not take any step in looking at our complaints for a compromise,” De Luna told The STAR.
“While we are open to dialogue, we’re already set on holding the transport strike April 3,” he said.
Transport group leaders gathered yesterday at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to discuss their complaints with Secretary Ronaldo Puno regarding illegal toll or pass through fees being collected from public utility bus, jeepney, and Asian utility vehicle operators and drivers by local government units throughout the country.
The meeting was attended by LTO and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board officials, giving the transport leaders a chance to raise anew their drive for a review and temporary cancellation of DOTC Order No. 39 which implemented the steep increase in LTO traffic violation fines.
“With the increase in the number of accidents occurring daily, it is high time we properly implement the rules and impose stricter fines and penalties to prevent laxity and to build a culture of safety among our road users,” Mendoza said in a statement.
He said the heavy fines and penalties “were the result of a process that has been meticulously done through consultation and consensus building with various stakeholders.”
“These penalties are not excessive compared to the discipline it will instill. The old schedule on fines and penalties dates back to 1993. Hence, these old penalties are obsolete,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza cited statistics that showed accidents increasing to more than 14,000, as compared to 5,500 in 2002.
By Rainier Allan Ronda, Philippine Star
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