In this photo taken July 2020, tricycles drivers are seen waiting for passengers while their units are parked along SB Cabahug street in Barangay Centro in Mandaue City. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
Mandaue City, Cebu—Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes on Friday, January 8, 2021, ordered the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) to apprehend tricycle drivers not complying with health protocols.
In a Facebook post shared on Friday morning, Cortes said he has decided to do this after receiving numerous complaints about tricycle drivers here who are not following the one-passenger policy, an important guideline imposed to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
“Ang naka pait pa gyud, kay bisan pa ug dili na tagsa ka pasahero ang ilahang gikarga, nagpabilin gihapon ang ilahang taas nga pletehan. Para kanako usa kini ka klase sa pag pangabuso sa atoang mga sumasakay ug mga pasahero nga nanginabuhi ra pud intawon ug naningkamot man gani nga dili mataptan sa maong sakit nga COVID-19,” Cortes said in a Facebook post.
(What’s worse is that aside from carrying more than one passenger, they continue to ask for a higher fare. For me, that’s a form of abuse on our commuters and passengers who are just making a living and at the same time trying to stay free from the COVID-19.)
Under the “one-passenger policy,” a tricycle unit is only allowed to carry one passenger per trip with an asking fare of P25.
Cortes said he understands that tricycle drivers are also just trying to earn for a living but the way they’re doing it is not right.
“Kung mahinumdoman, maong gi umentohan ang pletehan sa tricycle, kay aron sarang maka bawi-bawi ang mga driver nunot aning ‘one passenger policy,’ Cortes added in his post.
(It can be recalled that the reason why we imposed a higher fare is so that drivers can recover from the ‘one-passenger policy’)
The mayor said he has instructed the city’s traffic agency to conduct random checkpoints in motorcycle routes in the city starting Friday to monitor and apprehend those not complying with safety health protocols.
Tricycle drivers who will be caught violating the one-passenger policy will be fined while “colorum” tricycles may be impounded.
Read: Tricycles in Mandaue to ply within the interior roads only
“Ang pakigbatok sa pandemya dili mamahimo sa usa ka tawo ra… mabuntog ra ni nato kung kitang tanan magtinabangay. Dili ron panahon nga ang kaugalingon ray huna hunaon nato, dili na maoy ensakto,” Cortes said.
(The fight against the pandemic can’t be done by just one man..we can overcome this if we all help each other. This is not the time to think about just ourselves. That is not right.)