Council mulls hiking P200 fine

FORTUNA

The Mandaue City Council is considering to increase the P200 penalty for traffic violators in the city.

Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said yesterday they were studying the possibility of amending the penalty for traffic violations after the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) recorded 900 apprehensions for traffic violations since last Friday.

Fortuna said complaints of passenger utility jeepneys (PUJs) cutting their trips have prompted them to consider reviewing the traffic ordinance.

Glenn Antigua, TEAM chief of operations, said they received several complaints from students of trip-cutting incidents of PUJs.

He said that since Saturday, they also apprehended 60 PUJs that “cut trips” and confiscated their sign boards.

“Ang buhaton sa mga PUJ inig abot nila sa Centro ang ilang signage is Basak-Canduman. Inig abot nilag Canduman, mag U-turn sila, mobalik nasad silag U-turn sa may Basak magkaratula na sila og Liloan,” Antigua said.

Antigua said with this, passengers would be forced to ride twice, and PUJ drivers would collect fare twice.

“The incident about trip cutting is a very serious violation. . . . The mandate of all PUJs is to transport passengers to their destinations,” Fortuna said.

However, most of the traffic violations of the 900 apprehensions were PUJ drivers unloading passengers in prohibited areas and in no-stopping zones.
Most of the private vehicles that were apprehended were illegally parking.

All the traffic violators were issued traffic citations.

“Many of the riding public of the city of Mandaue are truly beginning to recognize that Mandaue is indeed a traffic discipline zone. We’ve had many motorists both appreciated and resisted, but in the end, we feel that this will help our traffic situation,” said Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing.