CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio yesterday vetoed Ordinance 326 that repealed the anti-overloading Ordinance 261.
The passage of Ordinance 326 will be “greatly prejudicial to the public welfare,” the governor said, reading his veto message in a press conference at the capitol. The same message, all of two pages and dated Feb. 11, was submitted to the provincial board also yesterday.
Ordinance 261 got repealed by a vote of 10-1, with only Board Member Ricardo Yabut dissenting. Yabut was one of the two authors.
It was revoked in a special session which was held an hour after the board and Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao conducted a public hearing on Jan. 21 on issues raised by Benedicto Lacsamana-led Federation of Pampanga Truckers Inc. (FPTI) and Pampanga Truck Owners Association (PTOA).
The governor said he found no basis to repeal Ordinance 261 because the board did “not find [it] or any of its provisions as unconstitutional, illegal or even onerous.”
“The only reason given was the “alleged objectionable provision of its implementing rules and regulations,”
The Benedicto Lacsamana-led Federation of Pampanga Truckers Inc. (FPTI) and Pampanga Truck Owners Association mounted protest rallies last January, or two months after the passage of Ordinance 261, to complain about the reduction of dimensions of cargo boxes and to assert the use of weighing scales instead.
“While it is true that there are some truck owners who oppose a provision of the [implementing rules and regulations], majority of the haulers of quarry materials in the province have found the said provision acceptable, and accordingly complied therewith,” the governor said.
At least 979 truck owners have applied 3,215 trucks for accreditation. At least 2,686 of the trucks were already issued hauling passes, Panlilio said, citing a report of the provincial environment office as of Feb. 6.
According to him, quarry operators, truckers, haulers and civil society groups found the decision of the board to repeal Ordinance 261 as “hasty.”
The board, in their findings, did “not take into consideration its acceptability, practicability and good outcome to our roads and people as well as to their respective businesses.”
“What is made clear during the said dialogue was that there is clearly no basis to repeal such a good ordinance, the implementation of which has just started,” Panlilio said, referring to a Feb. 6 consultation with various groups.
“As we very well know, the enactment of Ordinance 261 was brought about in order to protect not only our roads but mainly our people from possible traffic accidents and other ill effects of trucks overloaded with quarry materials traversing our roads. Repealing the same for such petty and baseless reason is illogical, immoral and highly questionable,” Panlilio said.
Like in the new quarry law Ordinance 176, the governor expects his veto of Ordinance 326 to be overridden.
“If it’s overridden, definitely going to court is one of our options,” he said.
JUNK WEIGHING SCALE PLAN
The People’s Crusade for Pampanga opposed the plan of the board to make a law requiring the purchase of weighing scales and constructing weighing stations.
The scales alone —P7.7 million each for fixed ones and P4.5 million for every portable pieces— would cost the taxpayers P39.8 million, according to PCFP spokesperson Arnel Manliclic.
“We would rather that this money be spent on social services for the people.
Running these facilities will require the provincial government to hire 200 more personnel to go on three shifts seven days a week, Panlilio said.
Capitol would also have to buy lands for the weighing stations.
Mike Tapang, president of small-scale quarry operators and a faction of the FPTI, said that if 3,000 trucks get 6,000 truckloads of sand daily, that would mean long lines at the stations, delaying the business of hauling.
With that huge number of trucks, a situation which is unique in Pampanga due to its multi-million peso quarry industry that thrived after Mt. Pinatubo’s June 1991eruptions, the weighing scales will have to be replaced yearly if not once every two years. “The wear and tear will be fast,” Tapang said.
Per plan by the board, the weighing scales will be bought on the fees that will be paid by the haulers and truckers. The Tapang-led FPTI opposes this.
“The cutting of metal or wooden sidings is the most practical approach as of now. It spares the provincial government of additional expenditures. It spares us from being victims of kotong on the streets,” Tapang said.
Ordinance 261 came as national government agencies find it difficult to implement Republic Act 8794, which bans overloading, due to lack of personnel or resources, he reminded.
A number of haulers and truckers skirt the overloading penalty of P1,620 by giving bribe money to authorities on the roads, Tapang confirmed.
Business is hurt because those who are able to overload reduce the prices of sand to direct buyers on account of bigger volume delivered.
Panlilio said he has convened on Tuesday the Anti-Overloading Task Force to enforce Ordinance 261.
The passage of Ordinance 326 will be “greatly prejudicial to the public welfare,” the governor said, reading his veto message in a press conference at the capitol. The same message, all of two pages and dated Feb. 11, was submitted to the provincial board also yesterday.
Ordinance 261 got repealed by a vote of 10-1, with only Board Member Ricardo Yabut dissenting. Yabut was one of the two authors.
It was revoked in a special session which was held an hour after the board and Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao conducted a public hearing on Jan. 21 on issues raised by Benedicto Lacsamana-led Federation of Pampanga Truckers Inc. (FPTI) and Pampanga Truck Owners Association (PTOA).
The governor said he found no basis to repeal Ordinance 261 because the board did “not find [it] or any of its provisions as unconstitutional, illegal or even onerous.”
“The only reason given was the “alleged objectionable provision of its implementing rules and regulations,”
The Benedicto Lacsamana-led Federation of Pampanga Truckers Inc. (FPTI) and Pampanga Truck Owners Association mounted protest rallies last January, or two months after the passage of Ordinance 261, to complain about the reduction of dimensions of cargo boxes and to assert the use of weighing scales instead.
“While it is true that there are some truck owners who oppose a provision of the [implementing rules and regulations], majority of the haulers of quarry materials in the province have found the said provision acceptable, and accordingly complied therewith,” the governor said.
At least 979 truck owners have applied 3,215 trucks for accreditation. At least 2,686 of the trucks were already issued hauling passes, Panlilio said, citing a report of the provincial environment office as of Feb. 6.
According to him, quarry operators, truckers, haulers and civil society groups found the decision of the board to repeal Ordinance 261 as “hasty.”
The board, in their findings, did “not take into consideration its acceptability, practicability and good outcome to our roads and people as well as to their respective businesses.”
“What is made clear during the said dialogue was that there is clearly no basis to repeal such a good ordinance, the implementation of which has just started,” Panlilio said, referring to a Feb. 6 consultation with various groups.
“As we very well know, the enactment of Ordinance 261 was brought about in order to protect not only our roads but mainly our people from possible traffic accidents and other ill effects of trucks overloaded with quarry materials traversing our roads. Repealing the same for such petty and baseless reason is illogical, immoral and highly questionable,” Panlilio said.
Like in the new quarry law Ordinance 176, the governor expects his veto of Ordinance 326 to be overridden.
“If it’s overridden, definitely going to court is one of our options,” he said.
JUNK WEIGHING SCALE PLAN
The People’s Crusade for Pampanga opposed the plan of the board to make a law requiring the purchase of weighing scales and constructing weighing stations.
The scales alone —P7.7 million each for fixed ones and P4.5 million for every portable pieces— would cost the taxpayers P39.8 million, according to PCFP spokesperson Arnel Manliclic.
“We would rather that this money be spent on social services for the people.
Running these facilities will require the provincial government to hire 200 more personnel to go on three shifts seven days a week, Panlilio said.
Capitol would also have to buy lands for the weighing stations.
Mike Tapang, president of small-scale quarry operators and a faction of the FPTI, said that if 3,000 trucks get 6,000 truckloads of sand daily, that would mean long lines at the stations, delaying the business of hauling.
With that huge number of trucks, a situation which is unique in Pampanga due to its multi-million peso quarry industry that thrived after Mt. Pinatubo’s June 1991eruptions, the weighing scales will have to be replaced yearly if not once every two years. “The wear and tear will be fast,” Tapang said.
Per plan by the board, the weighing scales will be bought on the fees that will be paid by the haulers and truckers. The Tapang-led FPTI opposes this.
“The cutting of metal or wooden sidings is the most practical approach as of now. It spares the provincial government of additional expenditures. It spares us from being victims of kotong on the streets,” Tapang said.
Ordinance 261 came as national government agencies find it difficult to implement Republic Act 8794, which bans overloading, due to lack of personnel or resources, he reminded.
A number of haulers and truckers skirt the overloading penalty of P1,620 by giving bribe money to authorities on the roads, Tapang confirmed.
Business is hurt because those who are able to overload reduce the prices of sand to direct buyers on account of bigger volume delivered.
Panlilio said he has convened on Tuesday the Anti-Overloading Task Force to enforce Ordinance 261.
