TRANSPORT authorities are in a huff after a former beauty queen, to escape traffic, used a lane along Edsa reserved for accredited delegates to this week’s Asean Summit.
On her Facebook page, former beauty queen and actress Maria Isabel Lopez bragged about how she removed some divider cones along the southbound lane of Edsa, and simply drove into the reserved Asean lane with her hazard lights turned on.
“I removed the divider cones! Then all other motorists behind me followed! MMDA thinks I’m an official Asean delegate! If you can’t beat them, join them!” Lopez said in her post, which was accompanied by two videos showing her speeding down the Asean lane while motorists remained stuck in the regular lanes, which were under a partial lockdown.
Lopez seemed to revel in her ability to escape the special traffic regulations, using the hashtags #nosticker, #pasaway and #selfpreservation on her post.
The Metro Manila Development Authority was not amused, noting that the Asean lanes were set up to ensure safe and speedy trips for world leaders and delegates attending the 31st Asean and Related Summits.
Calling her action “a serious breach of security,” an MMDA spokesman said it would recommend to the Land Transportation Office that Lopez’s driver license be canceled.
It also said an apology, which Lopez said she would issue, would not be enough.
In her defense, Lopez told one newspaper, “The end doesn’t justify the means, but I had to answer the call of nature because I was stuck in traffic for 3 hours. Sorry but I’m just human.”
But the MMDA said it was wrong for a woman of her stature to brag about an illegal act on social media.
Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde agreed.
“We strongly support the recommendation for the suspension or revocation of Ms. Maria Isabel Lopez’s driver’s license for violation of traffic rules and also for breach of security. A person of her stature should be an example to the Filipino community but she did just the contrary,” he said.
Lopez’s antics have also angered the Asean security committee, which released a separate statement saying such actions could “derail traffic management and can put at risk both the summit delegates and the traffic violators themselves.”
The Asean Technical Working Group on Traffic Management said charges could be filed against Lopez.
In the meantime, social media habitues, took to Facebook and Twitter to register their disgust that they had to sit through hours of traffic while Lopez cruised down easy street.
In all the kerfuffle over Lopez’s misadventure, however, nobody has pointed out how trivial it was for one person to breach the Asean security arrangements. All Lopez had to do was remove some plastic divider cones. A terrorist with a bomb in the trunk could have done that too.