Have you ever wondered why drivers drive the way they do in Negros Oriental?
The Land Transportation Office and the Philippine National Police in Negros Oriental are saying they do not have the proper resources to fully enforce traffic laws, rules and regulations.
The pronouncement comes as the number of traffic-related incidents in Negros Oriental, especially in Dumaguete City, continues to rise without let-up.
The LTO, the primary government agency on law enforcement related to land transportation and traffic, has repeatedly stressed it is undermanned and does not have deputized agents from outside of LTO as well to assist them in law enforcement.
The PNP also maintained that traffic law enforcement, specifically providing assistance to the LTO, is only secondary to its main function of fighting criminality and keeping the peace.
Both agencies, represented during the Provincial Peace and Order Council monthly meeting Tuesday, presented their limitations when asked why it seemed so difficult to address the perceived rise in the number of traffic related incidents (TRI) in the province.
Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, OIC provincial police director, said in his presentation that TRIs remain on top of the list of physical injuries under the index crimes category in Negros Oriental.
Carlos admitted there is not one PNP personnel in the province that has been deputized by the LTO to enforce the law under Republic Act 4136 (Land Transportation and Traffic Code of the Philippines) even though more than 100 uniformed police had completed the LTO deputation seminar last May.
While unable to give a convincing reason as to the low turnout of PNP applicants for LTO deputation, all he said was that it had something to do with stringent requirements, such as clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation.
But, Carlos reiterated what he had already told the PNP Provincial Advisory Council earlier that the police only plays a secondary role to the LTO in traffic law enforcement, pointing to anti-criminality street patrols as their number one concern.
“We cannot be the ones managing the streets,” said Carlos, although he assured the PPOC to make a follow up on the police personnel now qualified for LTO deputation.
During the May 2015 deputation seminar held by the LTO regional office in Dumaguete, other participants included personnel from the PNP Highway Patrol Group, but only about four or five of them had actually submitted their applications to the LTO office in Cebu, Eduardo Adalid, law enforcement officer of the LTO Dumaguete District Office, said.
He said that due to lack of personnel, and with no deputized agents from the PNP or even the Traffic Management Office, their office cannot cope with the demands of holding regular checkpoints.
In fact, the last time the LTO Dumaguete established a roadside inspection/checkpoint was in March this year, Adalid added. This explains why so many traffic related issues, especially the prevalent complaint on loud mufflers, have not been addressed, he added.
The LTO Dumaguete District Office includes the towns of Valencia, Bacong, Dauin, Zamboanguita, Sibulan, San Jose and Amlan in its area of coverage.
Adalid said they only have four regular employees and the rest are hired on job-order basis, and the latter are not legally allowed to enforce traffic laws or issue Temporary Operators Permit.
The LTO had recalled and revoked since last year the deputation papers of police personnel and TMO enforcers to discourage the “abuse” on the issuance of TOPs in exchange for kotong or mulcting.
Provincial Legal Officer Richard Enojo, who presided over the PPOC meeting, lamented the need for the problem on TRIs to be addressed, adding that in relation to other laws, such as the enforcement of mining laws, barangay captains are automatically deputized to implement such.
The problem faced by the PNP and the LTO as regards traffic law enforcement remained at status quo. The LTO regional office in Cebu City has the sole authority to approve, issue and release the deputation orders. (PNA)
