QC gov’t creates task force to review tricycle route plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government on Saturday said that a task force had been created to review the tricycle route plan of the city, following the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ban tricycles from national highways.

In a statement, the local government said that Executive Order No. 15, series 2020 dated Feb. 28, was enacted, where Task Force Tricycle (TFT) was created as directed by the DILG in Memorandum Circular No. 2020-036.

READ: DILG to LGUs: Strictly enforce ban on tricycles, pedicabs on highways

The circular, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said, indicated that the tricycle task force should be separate from the tricycle regulatory boards of each city and municipality.

According to Mayor Joy Belmonte, the city has 150 tricycle operator and drivers associations (TODA) and 24,756 tricycles with franchises, and 2,237 utility service tricycles that directly support the needs of at least 150,000 local residents.

Belmonte also serves as the chairperson of the tricycle task force.

The mayor said that the DILG directive would take a two-pronged approach — to ensure compliance with the order and to ensure that livelihood and other forms of assistance would be given to affected TODAs.

The task force is also mandated to update the tricycle route plan, which has not been updated since 1996.

The task force will also “conduct meetings, public consultations and hearings with stakeholders and provide necessary interventions and livelihood options to those affected by the ban.”

“The Task Force will ensure that the city abides by the DILG’s directive, and will guarantee that the livelihoods of affected tricycle drivers and operators are protected,” the mayor said.

“The city will be very strict about this and will only resort to the grant of exceptions by the City Council after all efforts have been exerted,” she added.