DOTr: ‘Mystery passengers’ in PUVs to ensure ‘no vax, no ride’ compliance in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday said “mystery passengers” will be deployed in public utility vehicles to monitor and ensure PUV drivers’ compliance with the no vaccination – no ride policy in Metro Manila starting on Monday.

DOTr Assistant Secretary Mark Steven Pastor for Road Transport and Infrastructure said the “mystery passengers” will assist traffic enforcers in the implementation of the policy. 

“Magdedeploy din po tayo ng mystery passengers para masunod itong polisiya kahit hindi nakauniporme ang mga enforcers,” Pastor said in an online briefing. 

(We will deploy mystery passengers to ensure that this policy will be followed even if there are no uniformed officers.)

“Bakit kailangan silang i-deploy? Upang masigurado po natin na kahit walang naka uniporme na enforcer ay sumusunod po ang ating drivers dito sa ating polisiya at dito po natin makikita kung papaano mai-implement itong program without knowing that there is really an enforcer, or government enforcer dito sa public utility vehicles,” he added.

(Why do we need to deploy them? So we can ensure that even if there are no uniformed personnel, our drivers are still following our policy and so we could also see how we could implement this program without knowing that there is really an enforcer, or government enforcer here in the public utility vehicles.)

Pastor also added that the “mystery passengers” will act like normal passengers and pay their own fare. 

Public transportation in Metro Manila should only allow the entry of vaccinated passengers starting on Monday.

Passengers should bring their vaccination cards as proof of their immunization, along with a government-issued ID as a supporting document.

The policy will remain in effect while Metro Manila is under Alert Level 3, according to DOTr.

The government on Friday ruled that Metro Manila will remain under Alert Level 3 until January 31.

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