THE Metro Manila Development Authority is investigating the alleged involvement of government-accredited towing company personnel who supposedly received grease money from motorists in exchange for the immediate release of impounded vehicles.
This developed shortly after the MMDA started bringing to the province of Tarlac 150 apprehended vehicles and more than 260 motorcycles for illegal parking, out of line and other traffic violations to decongest the government’s impounding site in Metro Manila.
“We will not wait any longer. Based on what is legal, we are looking on within the day. If they [violators] failed to redeem their cars, then we will transfer them because what’s happening is there is a collusion between the private car owners and our own people. We want to eradicate corruption on this,” said MMDA officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos.
He said once the vehicles were transferred to the new site located at the Land Transportation Office Compound in San Isidro, Tarlac City, all expenses, including the tollgate (fee) will be shouldered by the car owners involved.
“We’ll have to do it. It’s difficult but we have to do it. We will also be having auditing all [accredited] towing companies. There were reports of collusion, under the influence of drugs, and then other complaints. Cleansing of vehicles, cleansing from within, we’ll have to do it,” Orbos said.
The move came after the Department of Transportation gave the MMDA the go-signal to bring the excess impounded vehicles from the University of Life impounding site in Pasig City to the impounding area of LTO and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Tarlac.
“We intensified our anti-illegal parking operations and that is why we are asking car owners to find the right place where they can park their vehicles properly, if not, we will bring their cars to Tarlac,” said MMDA Towing Operations Group chief Victor Nuñez.
The vehicles to be brought to the Tarlac impoundment facility are those apprehended for illegal parking, and out-of-line public utility vehicles.
The MMDA disclosed earlier that an average of 30 out-of-line and colorum vehicles and illegally-parked vehicles are being apprehended daily since it launched the campaign two months ago.
While waiting for the emergency powers to be given by Congress to President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the traffic problem in Metro Manila, Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade has decided to strengthen working relationship of the newly formed Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (i-ACT) composed of MMDA, LTO, LTFRB and Police Highway Patrol Group.
Tugade’s chief information officer Cherry Mercado was designated as the official spokesperson of i-ACT.
“All traffic-related issues/concerns will be answered by Cherry Mercado, spokesperson of the Department of Transportation, as agreed upon by the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic [i-ACT],” said Sharon Gentalian, MMDA acting director for Public Affairs Service.
For his part, i-ACT chairman and HPG head Col. Antonio Gardiola said the aim of the inter-agency group is to have a unity of command in terms of the overall traffic management. The partnership will be concerned on the traffic enforcement aspect of the matter, he added.
“The intention of the Secretary (Tugade) is to address the doable or actionable items…we have to solidify the chain of command,” Gardiola said.