Jeep dispatcher bites cop’s arm

An ongoing roundup of illegal jeepney dispatchers in Mandaue and Cebu cities has kept traffic and police enforcers busy.

The operation did not go smoothly in Mandaue City where one dispatcher resisted apprehension and bit the arm of a policeman.

Police said Darwin Seroy, 23, a resident in barangay Guadalupe took a bite out of the arm of Insp. Alexander Nuñez, deputy chief of the Intelligence Section of the MCPO.

Seroy will be charged with disobedience to person in authority and physical injury.

The police are responding to persistent complaints about misbehaving dispatchers who harass drivers when they collect fees for their service and extort money from passengers, said Supt. Renato Dugan, deputy city director for administration of MCPO.

Some dispatchers were also accused of snatching, said Dugan.

At least 25 dispatchers were apprehended by members of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (Team) and Mandaue City police on a two-day operation last Wednesday and yesterday.

Violators of the city’s anti-dispatching ordinance face a P6,500 fine or 15 days in jail, said Edwin Ermac, chief of Team.

“We are inefficient in arresting them because most of the dispatchers are armed with guns,” Ermac said in a press conference.

Ermac said some field training policemen were also recalled by the MCPO, making the task of apprehension more difficult.

Aside from dispatchers, 273 jeepney drivers were arrested for various traffic violations.