The sharing law insult

Egay Uy

THE city council finally resolved to override the veto of Mayor Oscar Moreno of City Ordinance No. 12931-2015 that repealed the “sharing law” provisions in Section 210 of the Traffic Code.  The override is contained in Resolution No. 12138-2015.

Ordinance No. 12938-2015 was authored by Councilor Tabor and was favorably voted upon by Councilors Ocon, Dahino, Barba, Gan, Dacer, Daba, Bacal, Elipe, Emano-Elipe and Acenas.

On the other hand, the resolution overriding the veto of Mayor Moreno was favorably voted upon by Councilors Ocon, Salcedo, Dahino, Tabor, Bacal, Gan, Elipe, Daba, Pajo, Barba, Emano-Elipe, Acenas and Dacer.  This Resolution killed the veto and officially repealed the sharing law.

The traffic enforcers of the RTA, the Traffic Unit of Cocpo and volunteer groups have noted that one of the major reasons for the repeal of the sharing law is the traffic enforcers’ “earnest desire to earn extra money from their share of the proceeds of the traffic fines.”

This is the insult that the city council has inflicted upon the well-meaning and hardworking traffic enforcers.  Even with this, the latter have already declared that the repeal of the sharing law will not prevent them from continuing with the implementation of the once-forgotten Traffic Code.

When the RTA seriously implemented the traffic rules in the city starting in the middle of 2013, the number of apprehension of violators dramatically increased from an average of 2,929 per month from 2010 to June 2013 to 5,036 from July 2013 to June 2015.

And the number has been increasing which could mean that the bad habits of road users are difficult to change.  But then again, the traffic enforcers, although feeling insulted by the city council, will continue to do their job for the good of the greater majority of road users.

I attribute the dramatic increase in the number of apprehensions to the seriousness of the current breed of traffic enforcers in implementing the laws without even a token support from the city council which did nothing good but zero-ed the RTA budgets.  The serious implementation of traffic rules is because of the clear and visible support that Mayor Oca Moreno has given to the RTA.

The sharing law insult will linger in the minds of the traffic enforcers.  They will probably recall this insult next year.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer, city hall consultant, and chairman of Task Force Hapsay Dalan.)