CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The provincial government’s antioverloading campaign covering traders who haul 4,000 truckloads of sand from the province daily, has been delayed again.
Originally scheduled in September last year, the campaign was reset to Jan. 15 based on tarpaulin announcements put up in sand-rich towns, following the signing by Gov. Lilia Pineda of a Jan. 13 memorandum of agreement with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Philippine National Police, Pampanga Truck Owners Association and Pampanga Mayors League.
On Friday, no weighing scales had been stationed in quarry checkpoints or at sources of sand and gravel, a field check by the Inquirer showed. Six pairs of weighing scales, worth P5.1 million, were supposed to have been put to use.
The delay was due to the stringent selection of 24 personnel who were to be assigned to the task force that would enforce the antioverloading provision of Republic Act No. 8794 (the Act prescribing the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge), according to Arthur Punsalan, chief of the provincial government’s environment and natural resources office.
Working in three shifts, they are going to operate the six pairs of digital and portable weighing scales the provincial government bought early last year.
At least 30 personnel, who were recommended by local governments and deputized by the LTO, have completed training, Punsalan said. The weighing scales were calibrated in September by a company authorized by the Department of Science and Technology, he said.
Punsalan asked the public to bear with the delay, saying the campaign was meant to support the DPWH mandate to protect roads and bridges. The agency operates only one weighing bridge in Cabanatuan City. There are 673 kilometers of bridges and 2,274 km of national roads in the region’s seven provinces, which are navigated by truckers.
The provincial treasurer collected P236 million in quarry fees and taxes in 2011 but Pineda said the revenues were far smaller than the cost of repairing local and national roads.
Punsalan said the provincial government is enforcing a ceiling load of 13,500 kilograms per axle, as dictated by RA 8794. Like their counterparts in Pampanga, leaders of quarry associations in Bulacan and Nueva have agreed to pay P30 each time their trucks are weighed. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon