Manila traffic chief warns ‘kotong’ cops

By: Annelle Tayao-Juego - 9 years ago

The chief of Manila’s trafffic enforcers has one message to kotong cops, or those who extort money from motorists—get rid of your “bad habits” or he’ll get rid of you.

The newly installed chief of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB) on Tuesday promised a “retraining and reorientation” of his personnel following reports of extortion among the city’s traffic enforcers.

One incident was even captured on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera.

Benjamin Feliciano Jr., who took up the post of MTPB director on Feb. 12, said he had met at least three times with his staff of around 800 traffic enforcers to personally tell them to get rid of their bad habits.

Two MTPB personnel—Miller Cadampog, a job-order or contractual employee since 2007, and Nicolas Arriola, a trainee/volunteer who joined the bureau last year—were recently caught on camera taking money from motorists whom they had apprehended on Claro M. Recto Avenue. The footage was aired on national television last week.

Feliciano summoned the two on Monday but only Cadampog, who served as Arriola’s trainer, showed up and owned up to the offense.

“He said he was given P40 by the motorist which he initially refused but eventually accepted because the driver insisted,” said Feliciano, who ordered the immediate termination of both Cadampog and Arriola in line with the MTPB’s “one-strike policy.”

Like a father

Since he took over as director, Feliciano said he had monitored the behavior of traffic enforcers, especially in areas where reports of extortion were common.

On Monday, he terminated the services of five other personnel for “money-related” offenses.

“In our meetings, I advised (them), like a father would his children, on how to dress up and present themselves physically, how to approach apprehended motorists (and) how to manage the traffic,” Feliciano said.

“I also asked them, ‘Do you want to feed your families with food which you bought with money you didn’t work for?’”

P10,000 in allowances

Although in charge of enforcing traffic rules in Manila and apprehending violators, MTPB personnel—including Feliciano, a retired officer—are not part of the police force.

The bureau’s office is in Manila City Hall, and most of its enforcers receive monthly allowances ranging from P6,000 to P10,000. They also receive as commission a percentage of ticket fines.

Feliciano said that upon his order, his staff took written exams on Feb. 28 and 29 to test their knowledge of traffic rules and regulations.

“So far, out of the 140 we’ve checked, 100 passed. Those who don’t get a passing mark will undergo retraining for, at most, two weeks,” said Feliciano, who was recommended to Mayor Joseph Estrada for the top MTPB position by Chief Insp. Bernabe Irinco, head of the Manila Action and Special Assignment office.

New uniforms are also part of Feliciano’s plans to revamp the MTPB, a department of City Hall, which he said had earned a “bad reputation because of corruption.”

“We need our traffic enforcers to wear just one color (of uniform) so that people will know automatically who they are,” Feliciano said. “Right now we have three: orange, black and gray. I have yet to decide what the final color will be.”