ZAMBOANGA CITY--Over 5,000 tricycles in this city will be affected by the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) banning the three-wheeled vehicles on national roads.
Officials said majority of those affected are tricycle operators, including those who recently purchased Piaggio Ape units on installment basis, which cost more than PHP200,000.
A number of private individuals who bought Piaggio vehicles for their own use were dismayed too since they are also affected by the DILG order.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said she has created a task force to help the tricycle owners and drivers by finding alternate routes without violating the DILG order.
Several tricycle drivers have complained that policemen and Traffic Management Group (TMG) personnel apprehended them along Veterans Avenue, a national road.
Capt. Edwin Duco, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) information officer, said the violators may have been apprehended for other violations like no registration, no franchise or traveling with incomplete gadgets.
Duco said they are still waiting for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) from the local government concerning the DILG directive.
Councilor Elbert Atilano Sr., chairperson of the City Council’s Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management, has called on the police to apprehend colorum tricycles, instead of implementing the DILG directive.
Atilano underscored the need to first study the various routes the tricycles will be allowed to traverse before the full implementation of the DILG order. (PNA)
