About 50 percent of the public utility vehicles driven by members of the United Drivers Operators Center temporarily stopped operating yesterday as they have been greatly affected by the transfer of their terminal from Libertad Street to the Sambok south terminal at Lopez Jaena-San Sebastian streets, Bacolod City, UNDOC Secretary General Jessie Ortega said yesterday.
Ortega said that since the southbound pubic utility vehicles were required to park at the Sambok south terminal starting Monday, about 200 of their members stopped operating since they have been losing with fewer passengers. They can not also pick up enough passengers at the waiting station in Libertad because they are only given about 20 minutes to stay in the area, he said. Even the businessmen in Libertad are complaining that their businesses have been affected by the transfer of the terminal, he added Ortega said they wrote to Mayor Evelio Leonardia last week asking for a dialog but they have not received a response. He also pointed out that the Sambok terminal becomes muddy when it rains and is dusty when the weather is hot. They are appealing to the Yanson family, who owns the Sambok terminal, to consider the plight of the small drivers and give them a chance to survive, Ortega said. Acting Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said the ordinance requiring all southbound public utility vehicles to use the Sambok south terminal was supposed to have been implemented on July 15 yet but the drivers asked for an extension, which the city granted. Sayson said he is not aware of their letter to the mayor. Perhaps the mayor had already left for an official trip abroad when it came, he said. Sayson said they are trying to observe the flow of traffic and will make adjustments later since they cannot make things perfect in just one day. Meanwhile, the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod passed on third and final reading an ordinance requiring the posting of a copy of the checkpoint rules outlined by the Department of Justice during the conduct of checkpoints by the police and other peace-keeping officers on July 27, 2011. The ordinance was authored by Councilor Caesar Distrito and co-authored by Councilors Em Legaspi-Ang, Al Victor Espino, Dindo Ramos, El Cid Familiaran, Archi Baribar and Mona Dia Jardin. Distrito said that under the ordinance, law enforcers should display either on a plywood or on a tarpaulin a copy of the 10 checkpoint guidelines in both sides of the area with a corresponding Ilonggo translation. The ordinance will also protect the citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures given that there were reports that some checkpoints have been used as points of thievery and extortion practiced upon innocent civilians, he said. Failure to comply with the ordinance will hold law enforcers criminally and administratively liable and they will be fined P1,000 to P5,000, Distrito said.*CGS CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star
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