YOU sue the government and 99.99 percent of the time, you lose. The government sues you and 100 percent of the time, you lose. In this beloved country of ours, that is the hard fast fact of life.
Take the case of the no plate, no travel policy now being boldly imposed—and with abominable arrogance even—by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
It affects today thousands of motorists whose own cars they cannot drive out of their garage because their plates remained undelivered by LTO. If our motorists will disregard the law, they get apprehended by the defaulting LTO. Fine: P10,000.
Where in the world can you find such law, such a government that punishes its own people for lawfully using their own properties? I could be thrown out of my own house soon because I had repainted it from marmalade to tangerine?
“It is the law and we are just implementing it,” LTO chief Alfonso Tan said last week to Ted Failon in Failon’s award-winning 8 to 10 a.m. dzMM radio Monday-to-Friday program. The law was reinforced beginning April 1, Holy Wednesday.
But even as Tan said to Pareng Ted that the LTO had deputized Francis Tolentino’s Metropolitan Manila Development Authority men to arrest lawbreakers, Tolentino shot back at Tan, saying: “I am not honoring Mr. Tan’s order because it is unconstitutional and, this week being Holy Week, it is also un-Christian.”
This time, Tolentino, a lawyer whose style of leadership I have not been in much awe, actually got my whole-hearted applause, especially when he said, “It is stated in the Constitution that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”
In the craziest law ever that is the no plate, no travel policy, the question begging for an answer is, “Whose fault is it when your car does not have a plate?” Of course, the government; and, the government here is the LTO.
The LTO loves to boast of delivering your car plate 45 days after you have bought a new car. When the LTO fails to comply with the 45-day deadline, the poor motorist is left grumbling. The LTO goes scot-free.
‘LTO’s inefficiency’
“How can our suffering motorists get justice from LTO’s inefficiency, incompetence?” Pareng Ted asked.
“If they want to sue the LTO, fine,” Tan thundered. “If they don’t want to, fine.”
Aghast, Pareng Ted, controlling his fury, said: “I cannot accept that, Mister Asec [Tan].”
Promptly, Tan apologized.
May I now call on our legislators to review the law on no plate, no travel policy? At the very least, please suspend it momentarily—if not repeal it outright?
Meanwhile, I’m having second thoughts now on my plan to buy a Lear jet due to all this brouhaha.
It might only rot at the hangar because there might be a law that I am unaware of, saying: “No pilot, No flying.” Tell Francis, I need a drink, Pareng Ted.
Blame bad drivers
IT is bad driving, not discourteous drivers. That is from the Philippine National Police on its road accidents survey in the country.
In 2014 Philippines National Police data released recently, the police said 78 percent of driving mishaps were caused by human error. This is a glaring indictment against drivers who are quick to cite mechanical trouble as the culprit almost every time they got involved in an accident. The figures are horrifying.
Out of 15,572 road accidents in 2014, almost 13,000 were the result of driver error. Grisly, 1,252 had died and 9,347 been injured.
It was fewer in 2013 with 12,875 mishaps but with 1,362 deaths and 7,817 injured.
And in 2012, there were “only” 9,740 cases of road-related accidents, but 1,129 deaths and 4,904 injured.
And we had thought all along that stricter road laws had been in place to lessen human-caused accidents on the road. The most common causes of accidents cited were reckless driving, overtaking, cutting lanes, improper swerving and speeding.
And take note: Buses, trucks, jeepneys and, yes, tricycles were the usual vehicles involved in many accidents, especially in the highways.
And isn’t there a law that bans tricycles in our highways?
Yes, but gruesomely enough, only the LTO and the Highway Patrol Group are empowered to arrest tricycle drivers straying into the highway. Sadly, mayors and the police have no jurisdiction over erring tricycle drivers. Can a law also be passed empowering them to apprehend tricycle drivers using the highways?
Pee stop: Is it true Izumina-san, my dear beer mate, will soon say sayonara as Isuzu Philippines Corp. president? Like Shibata-san of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines (MMP), who also bade farewell just a while back after four years at the helm of MMP, Izumina-san will also be missed. Good luck on your next assignment, Izumina-san! And here’s to the jolly hours of our beer battle beside the Cubao Big Dome the night San Miguel Beer won the Philippine Basketball Association Cup. All the best, sensei!…My salutations to Kia and Volkswagen for their respective launches this week even as I had to express regrets to both momentous occasions on account of previous commitments. As usual, I know Kia President Ginia Domingo and Volks’ top gun JP Orbeta understood, and I promise to make it up next time…Gerard Cantada, the former world junior golf champion, and his bosom buddy, Bong Tan, will shepherd Lucio “Kapitan” Tan’s valued guests today as the Chairman’s Kap unfolds anew at Wack Wack. Is it true that a Vios will be raffled off during the awarding ceremonies? If true, good luck to the participants!