Impounded vehicles moved to Tarlac site 130 kms away

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday moved more than 400 impounded vehicles from its Pasig City holding area to a site some 130 kilometers away, in Tarlac City, hoping the transfer would compel the owners to claim them and pay the fines immediately.

MMDA general manager Tim Orbos said the measure should also deter corruption when the vehicles are claimed.

The transfer was in compliance with Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade’s directive for the newly created Interagency Council on Traffic Management (I-ACT) to move the vehicles to an LTO property in San Isidro, Tarlac City.

The I-ACT is composed of the MMDA, Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group.

The Duterte administration formed the I-ACT to streamline government efforts in solving the “traffic crisis” in the capital.

Prior to the transfer, Orbos said, the MMDA’s impounding center in Pasig City had been holding 150 cars and 260 motorcycles that remained unclaimed by their owners weeks after they were seized for various violations.

In the coming weeks, the MMDA will impose a one-day redemption policy for the towed cars, the official added, and the Pasig site would just serve as a transfer facility.

“You already know that your car has been towed, so why would you burden yourself with the need to go to Tarlac just to claim your car?” he told reporters.

Earlier, LTO chief Edgar Galvante said those whose vehicles had been transferred to Tarlac would be charged a storage fee, plus the cost of the transfer, on top of their fines. The storage fee can reach up to P1,000 a day.

Vehicles not redeemed within the next six months will be put up for auction, Galvante said.