Tricycles to return on Pasig City roads starting May 18

MANILA, Philippines — Starting May 18, tricycles will be allowed to transport passengers in Pasig City as Metro Manila was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) on Saturday.

In an announcement on Facebook, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto also enumerated the rules that tricycle operators and drivers must follow in order to resume operations.

Among the guidelines approved by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) are:

1. Only one passenger is allowed, except during a medical emergency where the patient needs to be accompanied.
2. A barrier between the motorcycle and the sidecar must be provided.
3. Drivers must also disinfect their tricycle units twice a day at the minimum with disinfectants to be provided by the local government.

Sotto said private tricycles will also be allowed to resume operations provided that a “Not for Hire” signage will be displayed and all guidelines will be obeyed.

Sotto also said tricycles will only be allowed to operate from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight.

https://www.facebook.com/VicoSotto/photos/a.1280942245297784/3075677872490870/?type=3&theater

“Magiging malaking tulong ang mga tricycle para masolusyonan ang kakulangan sa mobilidad ng mga empleyadong Pasigueño sa paraan na may social distancing pa rin,” the Pasig City mayor likewise wrote.

(The tricycles will be a big help to solve the mobility problems of Pasig City employees in a manner that social distancing will still be followed.)

It can be recalled that during the early days of the enhanced community quarantine imposed across Luzon, Sotto initially allowed tricycles to ferry passengers, especially health workers, in Pasig City.

Sotto’s move was bucked by DILG, which insisted that tricycles are prohibited under the enhanced community quarantine since it is considered mass transportation. The national government stopped the operation of all mass transport during the enhanced community quarantine.

Sotto complied, but the National Bureau of Investigation still summoned him for allegedly violating Republic Act 11469 or “the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act.”

Metro Manila, Cebu City, and Laguna province were declared on MECQ from May 16 up to May 31 as these areas were considered still “high-risk” for COVID-19 transmission.

As of May 15, the Philippines has 12,091 novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 infections with 2,460 recoveries and 806 deaths.

KGA

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