This ‘yellow’ traffic enforcer sees red when shown color of money

If you happen to see a member of Quezon City’s department of public order and safety (DPOS) on his way to the Kamuning police station in Quezon City clutching a driver’s license with money pinned to it, followed by an agitated driver, chances are you have just ran into Mario Canario.

Canario, 52, is a “yellow boy” (because of the yellow uniform he wears) who sees red when shown the color of money.

“I get irritated when erring drivers try to bribe me,” he told the Inquirer, pointing out that on the average, 25 in 100 drivers usually resort to bribery to get off the hook for a traffic violation.

Canario, who hails from Tacloban City, is the DPOS over-all traffic supervisor of Quezon City’s traffic Sector 4.

Drivers who have tried to get away with a traffic violation by offering him a bribe have ended up in more trouble, after they are charged with attempted bribery, on top of the misdemeanor.

“There are many traffic enforcers who accept money from drivers in exchange for tearing up a traffic ticket, so many think that everyone can be bribed,” he said. “I want to show them that not everyone in uniform is like that.”

Canario was a tricycle driver before he became a traffic enforcer in 1992. He rose through the ranks to become field supervisor and then over-all traffic supervisor in the city’s fourth traffic sector, covering the Kamuning, E. Rodriguez, Quezon Avenue, Edsa and Aurora Boulevard areas.

He recalled the first time when he charged a driver for attempted bribery in 2005.

“I was posted along Commonwealth Avenue when I accosted an FX taxi driver for picking up a passenger under an overpass, which is prohibited. I got his driver’s license and was about to give him a TVR (traffic violation receipt) when he dangled a P50 bill in front of me,” Canario said.

The traffic enforcer placed the money inside the driver’s license plastic jacket and told the motorist to follow him to Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Batasan Station 6. There, he filed a complaint against the motorist for attempted bribery.

In another instance, he lodged a similar complaint against the driver of a delivery van who had gone against the flow of traffic along Doña Hemady Street in Barangay Kristong Hari.

The driver refused to hand over his license, claiming that his boss would get mad at him if he did, and insinuating that they could “fix” the situation. Canario then decided to remove the van’s license plates.

As he was getting a screwdriver from his tool box, the driver followed him and dropped a P100 bill inside the box.  “I pretended to go along with him, but asked him to remove his license plates, which he did. As soon as I spotted a patrol car of the Galas police station pass by, I flagged it down and asked them to arrest the driver for attempted bribery, showing them the P100 bill he had dropped inside my tool box.”

He recounted how a number of the driver’s “padrinos,” (protectors or patrons) including an army official, have tried to dissuade him from pushing through with filing charges against the violators.

In the other cases he has filed against drivers who have tried to bribe him, the complaint either was not recorded in the police blotter or had been set aside by police investigators through “talks” with the subject of the case.

He has since resorted to writing down the bribery attempt on the TVR after advising the erring motorist to just use the money to redeem his driver’s license from city hall.

Canario, however, admitted to having a soft spot for those who express remorse and promise never to violate traffic rules again, imposing a smaller fine “when I see that the driver is sincere.”

He narrated an encounter somewhere in Pangasinan province with a driver to whom he had previously issued a TVR in Cubao, Quezon City.

“He is the traffic enforcer who gave me a ticket in Cubao,” the driver told a friend who was with him when Canario flagged him down. “I tried to give him money but he did not take it.”

“Would you have learned to obey by the traffic rules if I had accepted the money?” Canario recalled telling the driver, who shook his head and then smiled, with a hint of embarrassment.

The traffic supervisor said he was proud of his growing reputation for strictness, adding that it would have been a shame if he had been marked as a traffic enforcer who takes bribes.

Members of the DPOS usually get 20 percent of the fines when they issue TVRs, he said. “But I am not after our share. I just do my duty as a traffic enforcer.”

“I want drivers to learn from their mistakes and abide by the traffic rules to avoid accidents or to reduce congestion on the road,” he said simply. “If we are not strict in dealing with violators, motorists will never learn to follow traffic regulations.”