In entire PH, only 1 weigh bridge built to track overloading

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) operates just one weighing bridge in Central Luzon, almost 12 years after Congress approved Republic Act No. 8794 (the Road User’s Tax law) and its antioverloading provision, according to reports gathered by the Inquirer.

The DPWH’s lone weighing bridge in the region stands along the Cabanatuan City segment of the Daang Maharlika in Nueva Ecija.

Two shops have been built for weighing scales that the agency has bid out for use in Capas, Tarlac, and in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

The DPWH’s logistical condition suggests that 673 kilometers of bridges and 2,274 km of national roads in the region’s seven provinces are unprotected from overloaded vehicles.

No data were immediately made available by the Land Transportation Office regarding the number of violators that were issued tickets for overloading.

Signed in June 2000, RA 8794 imposed a motor vehicle user’s charge (MVUC) on owners of all types of motor vehicles. Section 6 of the law also sets a fine equivalent to 25 percent of the MVUC as penalty for overloading. This is determined when the axle load of the vehicle weighs no more than 13,500 kilos.

The law earmarked the MVUC and the fines “solely and (to be) used exclusively for road maintenance and the [improvement] of the road drainage, for the installation of adequate and efficient traffic lights and road safety devices, and for air pollution control.”

DPWH had said that “continuing violation of the [overloading] law [leads to] P20 billion worth of damage to the road networks yearly.”

The Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) allows a gross vehicle weight rating of 18,660 kg for a six-wheel truck and 41,000 kg for a 22-wheel truck on the North Luzon Expressway.

The Pampanga government starts enforcing the antioverloading provision on trucks hauling sand effective today.

The provincial government would be using six pairs of digital and portable weighing scales it bought for P5.1 million in early 2011. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon