‘Kotong’ gripes stall Makati drive vs smoke belching

Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Where there’s smoke, there must be fines—but it’s apparently not that simple in Makati City.

Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay on Tuesday ordered the suspension of the citywide antismoke belching operation in view of mounting complaints in the social media that its enforcers had been engaging in extortion.

Binay directed the Office of the City Administrator, headed by lawyer Eleno Mendoza, to investigate the complaints posted online and urged motorists to formalize the complaints so they could be properly addressed by the office.

The complaints directed at members of the Makati Pollution Control Office (MPCO) were posted on the city’s official Twitter accounts—@MakatiTraffic and @MakatiInfo—as well as on Facebook and some blogs.

“Motorists or the riding public who may have complaints against our MPCO enforcers comprising our local antismoke belching unit may lodge a formal complaint in the Office of the City Administrator,” Binay said in a statement.

“The city government does not tolerate abusive law enforcers. We have suspended ASBU operations to make way for a thorough investigation on the complaints we have been receiving from a growing number of motorists venting their frustrations in the social media,” Binay said.

The suspension would remain in effect until the issues had been thoroughly investigated and resolved, he stressed.

At present, the city has 31 enforcers tasked to conduct antismoke belching operations, as designated by the Makati Public Safety Department.

Aside from alleged extortion, they were also being accused of harassing private motorists, being partial toward drivers of public utility jeepneys and buses, and of causing traffic jams themselves.

Some complaints also alleged that they were not properly conducting tests on a vehicle’s smoke emissions, by stepping too hard and too long on the accelerator, for example.

The Makati City Vehicle Emission Control Code, enacted through Ordinance No. 2004-032, imposes penalties that include a fine of P1,000 for the first offense; P2,000 for the second; P3,000 for the third; and the confiscation of the driver’s license or the vehicle’s license plate.