Mandaue City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the Committee on Transportation. CDN Digital photo | Mary Rose Sagarino
Mandaue City, Cebu— Mandaue City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the Committee on Transportation, defended the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue’s (TEAM) Clearance Ordinance, saying that it was implemented to discipline erring drivers and hopefully lessen their traffic violations.
Lumapas made the statement after reading comments online that the TEAM Clearance Ordinance is anti-poor.
Under the TEAM Clearance Ordinance, all drivers of public transportation traveling in the city should secure a clearance worth P100.
Lumapas clarified that drivers would only pay more if he has a lot of pending traffic violations. Drivers who are obedient to the city’s traffic rules only need to pay the P100 TEAM clearance.
Lumapas cited data from TEAM, wherein some drivers have committed several traffic violations in a month with some not paying their penalties for years now.
Based on the data, about 600 citation tickets a day are issued by TEAM because of erring drivers.
The city councilor said they only want drivers to be mindful and follow the city’s traffic rules. He added that the ordinance is also implemented to ensure that operators and passengers are safe from abusive drivers.
Hyll Retuya, Lumapas’s chief of staff, also clarified that TEAM personnel do not apprehend drivers just because they do not have a TEAM clearance but because of traffic violations.
But if drivers cannot present a TEAM Clearance issued by the TEAM office when flagged down, they will be fined P500.
TEAM executive director Edwin Jumao-as, said they have already approved and offered drivers who have bigger pending violation to only pay 50 percent of their total penalties with the remaining to be paid in a staggered basis.
Traffic violation penalties in Mandaue City ranges from P500 to P1,000, depending on the offense.
/bmjo
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