SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—The Regional Development Council has deputized local government units in the region to arrest drivers of overloading trucks, trailers, tricycles and pedicabs traversing key arterial roads in the region.
The move was approved during a meeting Friday of the RDC, the highest policymaking body in the region.
Agustin Mendoza, regional director of the National Economic Development Authority and secretariat head of the RDC, said about 130 local government units can now arrest drivers of overloading vehicles.
Mendoza said the council empowered the LGUs through a resolution because of the high cost of maintaining and repairing provincial and national roads, and to avoid the potential deaths and destruction brought about by tricycle and pedicabs traversing national highways.
The authority to apprehend overloading vehicles formally belongs to Land Transportation Office, but due to budgetary constraints and lack of personnel, it has been transferred to the LGUs, Mendoza said.
“Given the insufficient budget and shortage of personnel of the LTO to monitor and enforce the law against erring tricycles and pedicabs plying along the national, we deem it necessary that the local government units be given the power to enforce the law in their respective jurisdiction,” he added.
Under Section 7C of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 8794 or the Anti-Overloading Act of 2000, trucks and trailers must load behind their prescribed gross vehicle weight, and that no axle load shall exceed 18,500 kilograms.
Mendoza said noncompliance with the law has resulted in repeated repair works on roads worth several billions of pesos annually.
To minimize such costly road repairs, Mendoza said there is a need to strengthen the coordination and implementation of the law that is for LTO to deputize and for the LGU to apprehend violators plying in the region.
In Pampanga alone, he said about 7,000 overloading trucks and trailers haul sand and gravel 24/7 with extended axles, body and wheels, but their wheels at the back do not touch the road while running.
“These trucks and trailers are heavily damaging the south bound roads, especially the provincial road,” Mendoza said.
As to tricycles and pedicabs, LGUs are empowered to regulate their operation in their respective cities and municipalities. This is under the jurisdiction of the LTO as provided for by Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code of the country.