ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry Treñas has given traffic aides the go signal to resume confiscating the licenses of erring drivers although he has not received a response from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) relative to his request to deputize the city’s traffic aides.
“It’s an executive prerogative kay ti may ordinansa nga ginpasar ang Sanggunian mandating traffic aides to apprehend and ara man dira ang confiscation sang driver’s licenses,” said Councilor Sedrey Cabaluna.
Treñas wrote a letter to the LTO last week about the deputation.
But he also stressed that the city government would enforce City Regulation Ordinance No. 338 that allows traffic aides to confiscate driver’s licenses if it gets no response from the LTO by weekend last week.
“Gwa ya, balik sa ordinance nga implementation for the meantime while waiting for the LTO response,” said Cabaluna.
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. earlier issued a memorandum stating that only LTO personnel are authorized to confiscate the licenses of erring drivers.
Prior to the DILG order, however, traffic aides under the Transportation Management and Traffic Regulation Office (TMTRO) have been confiscating driver’s licenses of motorists caught violating traffic laws within the city.
Also, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) – Branch 26, in a decision dated May 22, 2017, junked for lack of merit the petition of Atty. Daniel Cartagena questioning the validity of the ordinance and ruled that the city government’s TMTRO has the power to confiscate driver’s licenses for certain violations.
“That is part of local autonomy. If the Supreme Court will finally rule that the ordinance is unconstitutional then we will not implement,” said Treñas.
Initially, the LTO said it won’t deputize traffic aides who are job hires and not regular employees.
“Ti, kon amo na we will be forced to implement the ordinance. You know let’s talk about local autonomy,” Treñas said.
The LTO law was approved in 1964 yet while the Local Government Code under which the ordinance creating the traffic aides was passed – was enacted in the 1980s, he pointed out.
Traffic aide positions were created to fill the gap when the Philippine National Police concentrated only in peace and order.
“Ngaa indi kita ka permanent sa mga traffic aides? Because we are under the PS (Personal Services) cap. Indi kita ka pagusto butang diri regular. Ti, they will fault us because of that? Ako, we want to work with the national government. We will always follow the directive but if they will make it impossible for us, then we proceed with our ordinance,” said Treñas./PN
