Legalization of Payong-Payong eyed

The City Council passed a resolution under suspended rules yesterday that would open up new franchising to halt the illegal operation of unregistered motorized vehicle units.

Under the committee on transportation chaired by Councilor Conrado Baluran, a statute was passed urging the motorized vehicle franchising and regulatory division (MVFRD) of the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) and other offices concerned to legalize the operation of motorized vehicle units that includes payong-payong, trisikad, and others.

Under the resolution, these vehicles “are the most common local means of transportation that accommodate passengers especially in the interior part of the city.”

“The existence of these vehicles has been a perennial problem because no matter how we apprehend them, they just keep on coming back on our streets,” Baluran told.

According to Baluran, the said measure is for the “humanitarian consideration to the drivers and to protect the lives of the riding public and the pedestrians.”

“These vehicles provide no insurance amid being illegally operational, hence, we need to open franchise to them,” Baluran said.

Apart from insurance, the registration of the said vehicles, “would legalize their means of transportation because they are there even during the night and dawn,” Baluran said.

Baluran also noted that the CTTMO will determine the registration of the said vehicles especially that road worthiness has still to be determined.

As specified under the Comprehensive Transport and Traffic Code of the City, the unsafe features of the said vehicles as a mode of transportation do not suit and quality the ordinance.

Based on estimate, there are about 20,000 payong-payong, trisikad, and other unregistered motorized vehicle units in the city. (Julianne A. Suarez)