Drivers with unsettled traffic fines won’t be allowed to renew licenses beginning today

You can run, but you can’t hide. This was the message sent by officials of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) to traffic violators who have been ignoring their citation tickets as they started tracking down 45 violators who are subjects of bench warrants issued by Judge Monolila Tecson of the Cebu City Metropolitan Trial Court in Cities Branch 45.

The violators were issued Traffic Citation Tickets from February to April and have not turned up to pay the corresponding fines.

Among those hunted down was a 21-year-old student who violated a “no left turn” regulation.

“When we went to his house, he was not there because he was attending classes. But we left our number and told their helper to settle his obligation at the Citom office,” said Joy Tumulak, Citom operations chief.

A few hours later, Tumulak said he received a call from the father of the traffic violator who said he will take his son to Citom to settle his fine.

Tumulak said those who were issued bench warrants should immediately go to the Citom office and settle their fines.

They will also be made to pay a compromise fee of P500 within seven days. Those who fail to attend to their violation tickets will risk having their cases sent to court, Tumulak said.

In September last year, Citom also hauled into court 32 traffic violators.

This time around, Citom won’t just be hauling violators to court, but also to the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

In an agreement between Citom and the LTO-7 which takes effect today, drivers with unsettled traffic fines will not be allowed to renew their driver’s licenses as well as vehicle registration, if they own a vehicle. “It’s not our purpose to harass motorists or earn more income. But we want that through this, we can avoid and deter violations. Most especially since we are experiencing worsening traffic problems in the city,” Tumulak added.