Explain summons to traffic enforcers, SC tells judge

The Supreme Court, through court administrator Midas Marquez, has asked a Cabanatuan City judge to explain his summons to two Baguio City traffic enforcers who confiscated his car license plate for illegal parking last month.

Judge Nelson Lago of the CabanatuanMunicipal Trial Court Branch III “was requested” to comment on news reports that he had issued a subpoena ordering Bernard Batnag, amember of the city’s public order and safety division and the traffic enforcement chief assigned to the Baguio City Public Market, to appear in court on Nov. 29 to explain why they should not be cited for indirect contempt.

Batnag had given Lago a ticket for illegal parking and removed his car license plate on Oct. 25. Lago earlier said that redeeming the ticket and his license plate “evidently caused delay in the scheduled hearings” and the “administration of justice.”

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a retired police general, and Baguio police chief, Col. Allen Rae Co, have defended the traffic enforcers for doing their job in minimizing traffic congestion. —DONAZ. PAZZIBUGAN