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MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – A tricycle driver on Monday ended up in jail for allegedly defying traffic policemen who enforced a rerouting scheme in Mandaue City.
Reglito Andal of Barangay (village) Umapad faced a complaint for disobedience and resistance of persons in authority filed by his arresting officer, Senior Police Officer 4 Anecito Lutchavez of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO).
Lutchavez, assigned to MCPO’s Traffic Mobile Unit, said Andal disobeyed him when he ordered the driver to turn back after entering S.B. Cabahug Street.
The city government earlier banned all tricycles from S.B. Cabahug as part of a test for new traffic routes.
The policeman said he was on patrol along S.B. Cabahug when personnel from the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) alerted him of Andal’s violation.
“When I saw him, I ordered him to stop and told him, ‘Just turn back so that I don’t have to arrest you’,” Lutchavez said in Cebuano. “When I was still getting off my motorcycle, he sped off.”
Lutchavez said he caught up with Andal and arrested him. However, a commotion ensued when nearby members of the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo came to Andal’s defense.
Lutchavez was later able to bring Andal with him to police station 1.
Neil Soco, deputy chief for operations of Team, said frequently asks for police assistance because many drivers deliberately disobey the experimental rerouting.
He said Team is normally lenient, issuing only a citation on first offence and a temporary operating permit on the second offense.
It is only on third offense, or faced with a defiant driver, that an arrest is made, he said.
