Citom targets drivers of private vehicles
Drivers of private vehicles who had refused to pay traffic fines with the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) are the agency’s next target.
Citom operations chief Joy Tumulak said Citom will also be focusing on going after drivers of private vehicles who were issued bench warrants.
Tumulak said their personnel are still conducting background checks on private drivers to get their work place or home addresses so the warrants can be served.
As for the erring jeepney drivers, two of them only went to the Citom office yesterday morning to check their names, but instead ended up being arrested.
It turned out that they were among the 59 drivers issued with bench warrants by Metropolitan Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 1 Judge Monalilia Tecson last week.
The arrest of three more drivers yesterday brings to seven the total number of jeepney drivers that Citom has so far apprehended.
Tumulak said the two drivers personally went to their office to check if they were among those issued with bench warrants.
“When we found out that they were among those issued, we detained them,” Tumulak said.
The two drivers were Rey Villarin of Barili town, who has a pending penalty of P28,000; and Danilo Tamayo of Bogo City, who is facing four cases, had 227 traffic violations and an accumulated fine of P64,500.
A third driver, Larryboy Ordiz of barangay Bulacao, was arrested while plying his route along N. Bacalso St. He has 560 violations with a total accumulated fines of P172,600.
They added to the two drivers who were arrested last Tuesday: Ronald Ponce of Minglanilla with an accumulated fine of P91,000 for 352 violations, and Teoben Tomakin of Cordova town with P11,500 fines for 19 violations.
As of yesterday, all the drivers have been released after paying the required fee.
“After they paid the P2,000 fine for the case, we issued an affidavit of desistance which they presented to Judge Tecson so their cases will be dismissed. They are set to come back to our office to settle their pending penalties,” Tumulak explained.
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