A shift to tricyles

While all talks centered mostly on the end-run of the contest between Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez on the issue of the 2013 gubernatorial contest for the province, I was taken aback Saturday by the focus on the issue of trisikads and tricycles by former Valladolid Mayor Ma. Asuncion Belzunce.

Belzunce is a hard-hitting observer who minces no words when it comes to noticing something wrong with the way a city or town has been implementing local ordinances.

This time, however, I was enchanted at how she managed to focus on something which Bacolod from all walks of life may have already noticed but simply dismissed as inconsequential because they concern only trisikad drivers.

The thing that set her off was the press reports that the police had confiscated from San Sebastian, Luzuriaga Streets and Lacson and Gonzaga-Lacson streets some 205 trisikads.

Trisikads are banned at the National highway as they pose dangers to other motorists.

Belzunce, had a vital question, is it legal under the city ordinance to impound the trikes for one week?

Who gets penalized?

She suggested the city consider the possibility of amending ordinance so that it could conform the modern realities.

What are the specific routes?

She noticed, for example, that most of the drivers are not from Bacolod. She claimed that when the police impound the sikads they don’t even issue receipts or forms of violations.

In short, she pointed out that the police do not arrest the trisikad or tricycles operators. So all they do is just rent another trisikad from another owner or operator and commit the same offense for which the vehicle had been impounded.

“Owners are the ones being punished and the not the driver-violators,” stressed Ms. Belzunce.

She said that the late councilor Constancio Legaspi, who authored the Trisikad and Tricyle ordinance, may have been correctly impelled, but the present situation shows that it must be updated to conform with the new realities.

In short, it must be clearly clarify some of the penalties and the punishment for violations. Such as for example, who should be arrested? One cannot just impound a vehicle.

In short, it is barking up the wrong tree. The drivers often just get a pat on the back. In short, it is the owner or operators who get in on the neck. Besides, it is also noted that many trike operators are also policemen?

There has to be a serious study on how the ordinance can be improved then strictly enforced, stressed Ms. Belzunce.

Besides, she added, tricyle and trisikads just cross the main streets that is prohibited and nobody is there to accost them or round them up for their violations of the local ordinance.

Just like any traffic law of the city, nothing is done to enforce it except from time to time. That’s not the way ordinances are supposed to enforced. It must be done at all times and every time there is a violation. But, at the rate things are going, we just have a blatant disregard of the ordinance.

***

Well, they say that former Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco will attend the oath taking of some 100 to 175 new members of the National People’s Coalition. And, most likely, he will endorse Vice Governor Alvarez, the gubernatorial bet of NPC for the province.

And that is supposed to leave Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. high and dry. Unfortunately, that also belies the fact that Freddie is also the head of the United Negros Alliance.

And, one thing that one cannot underestimate Freddie on – it is the fact that governor does not have access up his sleeves. Incidentally, he is an engineer and is a mathematician. Thus, one can always consider that Marañon has numbers in his head and can count on many higher to unknown among the ranks of the so-called Alvarez partisans.

One thing sure, the forthcoming 2013 elections will be a hotly-contested one and the results can be for or gain one of the other. Don’t count Marañon out because of the propaganda.*

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