MMDA men face probe for beating up trucker

An apology won’t do.

Three traffic marshals of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) may have been released by the police after being booked for beating up a truck driver, but they are not yet completely off the hook.

Facing an investigation by the MMDA, Anthony Solinas, 24, Mark Lester Banaag, 31, and Juan Pagulayan, 32, were briefly detained by the Quezon City police shortly after midnight Friday on a complaint from Enrico Derelo.

Supt. Richard Fiesta, commander of the Quezon City Police District’s Anonas station, said the three MMDA men were eventually released after Derelo decided not to press charges. A report reaching MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said the trio had apologized to the driver.

The incident took place at the corner of C. P. Garcia and University Avenues, the QCPD said. Derelo was driving a 10-wheeler truck en route back to Bulacan province after making a late-night delivery in Pasig City, when the traffic aides flagged him down.

In his statement to the police, Derelo said the marshals asked for his license but he refused to surrender it since he did not commit any traffic violation. Solinas and company then asked about his cargo, but instead of giving that information the driver asked for their identities.

When the MMDA men declined to give their names, the driver got off the truck to talk to them. It was at this point, Derelo said, that they started punching him.

Derelo was able to run away and seek help from policemen who were on patrol nearby. When brought to the Anonas station, the traffic aides at first denied the allegation.

In an interview Friday, Tolentino said that even though Derelo had already issued an affidavit of desistance and his men had apologized, the traffic aides’ actions “will not be tolerated.”

Solinas, Banaag and Pagulayan would still be investigated by the MMDA for possible sanctions, he said. With a report from Jaymee T. Gamil