The revision of R.A. 4136

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

There has been quite a fuss from transportation companies over the new order that imposes the very steep fine of P1 million on buses that are found operating “colorum” units that are without the proper permits. Among the measures adopted by the Transportation Department, in reaction to the very frequent and very deadly bus accidents that had been occurring in the provinces of Luzon, and even in Metro Manila, was the revision of Republic Act 4136, or the Traffic Code of the Philippines, embodied in the Joint Administrative Order (JAO).

“Masakit (painful)”, the operators reportedly wail upon being caught and imposed the fine that is, admittedly, very high. But how else could discipline and compliance with traffic rules be imposed on those transportation units to whom passengers entrust their lives everytime they travel? So many accidents have been recorded, especially in the recent summer months, involving such vehicles hitting each other or others on the roads and highways, or falling off cliffs and into ravines because they were ill-maintained, without proper permits, and were “colorum,” whose road-worthiness had not been checked regularly by the agencies empowered to do so.

Worse, some of their drivers had also been found to be unqualified, or under the influence of illegal substances. It also seems that filing charges against both operators and drivers of such units have not proven effective because of the way court cases proceed in this country.

By adopting this revised method of penalizing violators of this new order, the Transportation Department is only assuring the public that it is, at last, doing something that can more effectively and expeditiously reform them and ensure safe travel on conveyances that are ship-shape, and have properly been declared so by the agencies responsible for them.

Warnings and threats have not helped, so the most effective way can only be to hit them in their most vulnerable parts, their pockets.*