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Cagayan truckers: Cops using anti-overloading law to mulct

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A shortage in the supply of rice, corn and vegetables, especially in Metro Manila, looms if trucking firms in Cagayan Valley push through with their threat to go on a holiday this week.

This, as the truckers protest what they described as the “unfair” implementation of the anti-overloading law which has enabled elements of the Land Transportation Office and Traffic Management Group to allegedly mulct P200 to P500 from them daily.

The anti-overloading law is meant to regulate the amount of load vehicles carry to minimize road accidents and lengthen the lifespan of the national government-funded and -managed national highways.

But the truckers claimed some law enforcers are using the “confusing” law to extort money from them.

The “truck holiday,” according to them, could also jack up prices of food commodities due to the additional and unnecessary “violation fees” imposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways and purportedly carried out by “law enforcers” on the highway.

“We are surprised why we would be charged with overloading when our trucks have passed the quality load standards of the NLEX (Northern Luzon Expressway),” said Ernie Fernandez of the Santiago City-based Mars Grains Center.

Fernandez, one of the organizers of the soon-to-be-formed Cagayan Valley Truckers Association, said they are aware of a load limit of 13.5 tons per axle.

“We don’t want to bribe people daily because it is very expensive for us, and we don’t want this system to be institutionalized. Besides, our produce will rot if they are not shipped at once,” he said.

The truckers said at least 500 eight- to 10-wheeler trucks carrying food and other prime commodities ply Cagayan Valley routes daily.

Cagayan Valley is the country’s topmost rice- and corn-producing region and supplies more than 30 percent of the rice, corn, and vegetable needs in Metro Manila and nearby regions.

DPWH director Eugenio Pipo said they hope to settle the issue with the LTO and the police so they could strictly implement the anti-overloading law.

Chief Superintendent Ameto Tolentino, Cagayan Valley police director, denied reports that his men were involved in mulcting. -- CL