Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Allan Cesante called on both the police and transport agencies to help stop the alleged extortion activities of some policemen of Minglanilla and Talisay City on truck drivers transporting vegetables from his town.
Cesante said he received complaints from the farmers and haulers of vegetables in the town about these corrupt cops.
“Identifying the involved policemen is an exercise in futility without considering the holistic approach. First of all, the trucks are really overloaded,” Cesante said.
Cebu Provincial Board (PB) member Christopher Baricuatro challenged Dalaguete’s barangay officials to identify the policemen who reportedly extort at least P200 from each passing hauler truck carrying vegetables from Dalaguete.
Cesante said those involved in the hauling or trucking business may be afraid to come out.
He said trucking firms should use open-type trucks so the police will have no reason to stop them along the highway.
He said open-type trucks would make it easy for the farmers to also board at the top of the trucks. Sometimes, at least 50 persons ride on top of a truck.
He wanted the heads of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, Cebu City Police Office, Land Transportation Office 7, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) and Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) to attend the meeting.
Cesante said both Cebu City police and Citom officials should attend the meeting because the trucks usually head to Cebu City to unload their produce.