Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Task Force Special Operations Unit Head Col. Bong Nebrija apologizes to Senator Bong Revilla Jr. over his report involving the latter in an alleged violation of the Edsa bus carousel lane on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Arnel Tacson | INQUIRER.net)
MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Task Force Special Operations Unit Head Bong Nebrija has apologized to Senator Bong Revilla Jr. over his report that the lawmaker violated the Edsa carousel busway.
In a media forum on Wednesday, Nebrija also clarified that he did not personally see Revilla inside the vehicle that supposedly passed through the lane exclusive for public utility buses, ambulances, and marked government vehicles responding to emergencies.
“Sorry, senator, that was not our intention,” he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
READ: Revilla denies being apprehended on Edsa bus lane
Nebrija said his decision to let the convoy pass through the restricted bus lane along Edsa was based solely on the account of an MMDA traffic enforcer.
“My judgment was based on the information that was given to me. We have no intention to defame,” he said.
“Out of courtesy that a convoy was in a hurry, we allowed it. But this is based on judgment call.,” he added.
According to Nebrija, he was not in the exact spot where an MMDA traffic enforcer stopped the group of vehicles.
READ: MMDA nets over 300 Edsa bus lane violators
“I was in the area, but I’m away from that spot, so now he [enforcer] said, ‘Sir Bong, the convoy you stopped earlier… because it passed [the busway], so we stopped it… the convoy you stopped belongs to Sen. Revilla’,” he explained.
“I asked if the senator was there, [he answered] ‘yes sir,’ then let him go,” Nebrija said.
Nebrija ordered the traffic enforcer to write a spot report on the incident.
“I was assuming that they saw him. We were even teasing them that they should’ve taken a selfie,” he added.