“The NCAP is a trap that amounts to extortion, or highway robbery, and should be junked ASAP”
With the Supreme Court decision to lift the suspension of the No Contact Apprehension Policy and allow the Metro Manila Development Authority to implement it in EDSA and other major thoroughfares, expect owners of both public and private vehicles and their drivers to raise a howl over excessive fines and precious time wasted in filing appeals over baseless/wrong violations.
The fines imposed on common traffic violations, like beating the red light, disregarding traffic signs and road markings, ignoring speed limits, among others, now stand at P1,000, but LGUs that implemented the scheme in 2022 had earlier pegged it at P2,000.
Will the NCAP bring about better traffic flow in the metropolis and really keep motorists disciplined? That we’d really like to know.
I’ve experienced first-hand the NCAP in one of the rare times I had to go to Manila. That was in April 2022, when the NCAP was being enforced by the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau.
I received a Notice of Violation from the MTPB telling me that I had to pay P2,000 for disregarding lane markings and proceeding to cross to the left from Pedro Gil St.
I decided to contest the Notice of Violation because the video clearly showed that the leftmost lane of Pedro Gil. St. going to Taft Avenue was occupied by four tricycles and a passenger jeepney that were obviously waiting for passengers.
I said in my letter to the MTPB that since the leftmost lane that was supposed to be exclusive for turning left to Taft Avenue was occupied by tricycles and a jeepney, I was left with no choice but to take the second leftmost lane to make a turn to Taft Avenue.
I argued that the MTPB should have a traffic enforcer assigned at that particular location to ensure that public utility vehicles waiting for passengers are not allowed to stay there at all since that is exclusively for the use of left-turning vehicles, according to the lane markings.
What was clear from the photo of the video taken by their CCTV showed that indeed the leftmost lane was occupied by other vehicles. But the MTPB staff and his superior who signed the Notice of Violation ignored this fact and sent the Notice of Violation by mail to me even as it was clear that the leftmost lane was clogged by PUVs.
It was clearly irresponsible on the part of the MTPB to issue a Notice of Violation when the circumstances at the time did not justify the issuance of such notice.
When I went to the MTPB office at the Manila City Hall to clarify the matter, there were many others waiting in line who were one in saying that NCAP was a big burden that needed to be reviewed, first because it imposed heavy fines without proving that indeed violations had been committed.
The MMDA claims that from an average of 9,514 traffic violations, the figure rose to 22,736 in September last year and skyrocketed to 32,739 as of May this year.
The MMDA now says the revived NCAP will instil discipline among motorists and reduce traffic violations to a minimum.
But the traffic management system using CCTV cameras and advanced technology to record and process road violations without human intervention has been heavily criticized, with Albay Rep. Joey Salceda describing the scheme as “oppressive.”
We concur with his view.
We’ve heard more than enough horror stories regarding NCAP implementation.
A taxi operator complained on TV news that she had been slapped with fines reaching P1 million for supposed traffic violations of her taxi drivers.
Another complained that he was slapped with a P2,000 fine after his car’s front wheels managed to touch the white painted lines of a pedestrian crossing in an intersection, after he stopped to give way to an emergency vehicle.
Four transport groups had filed in 2022 a 47-page petition before the Supreme Court asking it to declare the NCAP as unconstitutional.
They argued that motorists were “under constant threat of being arbitrarily apprehended remotely and issued notices of violation for alleged traffic offenses committed without any contact whatsoever.”
The NCAP, insists a lawyer who had been told to pay thousands of pesos in fines and penalties because traffic authorities sent the notice of violation to a wrong address, violates a person’s right to due process.
We agree. I’ve said this before and it bears repeating: The NCAP is a trap that amounts to extortion, or highway robbery, and should be junked ASAP, and replaced with a traffic scheme that respects due process and does not punish the public because of government inefficiency.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
