DAVAO CITY (October 6) — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) want the local government units to clear the national highways all over the country of tricycles and pedicabs.
The law prohibiting the operation of tricycles along national highways has been there but it was never perfectly implemented.
DILG Secretary Educardo Año in a press statement said: “For safety reasons, no tricycle or pedicab should operate on national highways utilized by four-wheel vehicles greater than four tons and where normal speed exceeds 40 kilometers per hour.”
Año said while the government recognizes that tricycle and pedicab operations provide livelihood and income to Filipinos, both in the urban center and rural areas, “allowing them on main thoroughfares poses hazards to other motor vehicles, the riding public, and even to the drivers themselves.”
“The regulation of tricycles and pedicabs on national highways is, therefore, to the best interest of everyone,” he said.
Francis Biron, a tricycle driver from Toril district here reasoned out, “There is no public utility jeepney serving our areas, we cater to three villages and it is impossible for us not to use the national highways because our villages are along the national highway.”
Biron said, “We are the poor man’s car and we need to serve our families and our communities.”
The DILG ruled vehicles may only be allowed by concerned Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) or Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) to traverse main highways if there is no other alternative route.
Reports on the unregulated operations of tricycles and pedicabs along the highways have prompted the DILG to reiterate the memorandum saying tricycles and pedicabs along main thoroughfares pose serious hazards to the passengers, drivers, and other vehicles.
He said under the Local Government Code, city and municipal mayors, through their respective sanggunians’ are authorized to regulate the operation of tricycles within their territorial jurisdiction, subject to the guidelines prescribed by the Department of Transportation.
He also urged local authorities to strictly adhere to the standards and guidelines provided by Memorandum Circular 2007-01, which contains the basic considerations in the preparation of city or municipal tricycle and pedicab franchise and regulatory ordinance or code.
The guidelines include banning of tricycle and pedicab operations along national highways; prohibiting said vehicles to carry more passengers and goods than what they are designed for, or more than what is authorized in the franchise, among others.-Editha Z. Caduaya/NewsLine.ph
