DILG: Tricycle ban in national highways stems from LTO, DOTr
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has clarified that banning tricycles from national highways is not their policy but that of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
In a statement on Friday, DILG said they appreciate Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda’s concerns about tricycles and other three-wheeled vehicles not being allowed on national highways.
Salceda on Tuesday asked why the DILG prohibits tricycles, pedicabs, and motorized pedicabs from operating on national highways, saying that the said department does not have jurisdiction over this matter.
READ: DILG asked to recall ban on 3-wheelers on nat’l roads
“The DILG appreciates the concerns raised by Cong. Joey Salceda regarding the memorandum on the prohibition of tricycles, pedicabs, and similar vehicles from operating on national highways,” DILG said.
“It is important to clarify that the policy restricting these vehicles from national roads is not a recent directive from the DILG, but is rooted in longstanding regulations established by the [DOTr] and the [LTO], particularly under LTO Memorandum Circular No. 94-1994, which was issued on May 2, 1994,” it added.
DILG cited the Memorandum Circular No. 94-1994, which stated that for safety reasons, tricycles are not allowed to “operate on national highways utilized by 4-wheel vehicles greater than 4 tons and where normal speed exceeds 40 KPH kilometers per hour.”
The same memorandum said that the Sangguniang Bayan or Sangguniang Panglungsod may “provide exceptions if there is no other alternative route.”
Hence, DILG said the policy was only reiterated in subsequent releases like the DOTr-DILG Joint Memorandum Circular No. 001 s. 2017.
READ: DILG chief calls for strict tricycle ban on highways
“The role of DILG was simply to circularize this policy,” DILG said.
“However, if the DOTr and LTO wish to update this policy in light of the evolving transportation landscape, the DILG will conform accordingly. In any case, the DILG will defer to the technical expertise and guidance of these agencies,” it added.
Salceda had questioned DILG about having powers on who can traverse national highways because the Local Government Code reserves such power to local government units.
“Since when did the DILG have powers over national highways? Even the most liberal reading of the Local Government Code would also reserve its powers to the LGUs, not to the DILG. The DILG has obviously exceeded its powers here,” Salceda said during the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on ways and means.
Salceda heads the House panel.
According to the lawmaker, the DILG’s memorandum circular created confusion, “especially in provinces where there are very few end-to-end transport options by tricycles.”
“(It also) has been used as an excuse to ban non-conventional vehicles who are perfectly capable of plying national roads from using the same roads, despite currently being charged the MVUC (motor vehicle users’ charge),” he said.
“We generally eschew taxation without representation as much as we avoid charging for a service without the ability to use the service. So, the DILG MC is not only a stretch of legal space. It also disenfranchises a significant share of both users and taxpaying vehicle owners,” he added.
This is not the first time, though, that the DILG proposed to strengthen the ban on tricycles on national highways. In 2020, when former Interior Secretary Eduardo Año was still at the helm, the agency directed local government units (LGUs) to strictly enforce the ban on tricycles, including pedicabs, on national highways, by forming a tricycle task force that would draw up alternative routes for them.
