You would think President Marcos Jr. is too preoccupied with foreign policy issues and frequent trips abroad that he has forgotten to keep his ears close to the ground and address issues that matter to ordinary Filipinos.
But no, the Chief Executive does respond to street-level issues.
Ample evidence is his issuance of an order prohibiting government officials and employees from using vehicle sirens and blinkers indiscriminately or simply force their way through heavy traffic by feigning a real emergency.
The presidential order did not stop there. In what’s clearly a deterrent against power-tripping on the road, the President also reduced the list of the government VIPs who are entitled to special license plates.
It’s about time.
In restricting the use of sirens, or wangwang, in street lingo, the president followed the example the late former president Benigno Aquino III whose inaugural address in 2010 slammed the unwarranted use of sirens as a symbol of government abuse or entitlement that his incoming presidency intended to curb.
In fact, the younger Marcos merely revived Presidential Decree 96 issued in 1973 by his father which “prohibited the use or attachment of any siren, bell, horn, whistle, dome lights, blinkers and other signaling or flashing devices on vehicles, except for official vehicles of the military, police, hospital ambulances, etc.”
This decree imposed a penalty of six-month imprisonment and a P600 fine on violators, apart from the revocation of the driver’s license and vehicle registration.
In Administrative Order 18, President Marcos Jr. pointed out: “It has been observed that the unauthorized and indiscriminate use of sirens, blinkers and other similar signaling or flashing devices has been rampant, causing traffic disruptions and unsafe road and traffic environment.”
The order covers all government officials and personnel, except official vehicles of the armed forces, police, NBI, fire trucks, hospital ambulances and other emergency vehicles.
The President also cited Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which emphasized the state policy to “promote a high standard of ethics in public service.”
What is important to point out here is that no issue is too small or too trivial for the Chief Executive, as the highest elective public official, to address, especially if it would mean a diminution of the trust and confidence of the people in their government.
‘Wangwang’ abuse is not part of good governance, and it must stop.