Taxi driver arrested for tampering meter

A member of Mobile Patrol Division of Cebu City Police Office apprehended the driver of the taxi he was boarding for tampering the meter while he was on his way home in Felina Village, Punta Princesa in Cebu City yesterday dawn.

PO2 Edcel Petecio arrested Jaime Tolentino Tapnio, driver of EC Friends Taxi, after he noticed that the driver was tampering the meter by using a wire connecting to the ignition key.

“Sige lang gyud ko og tan-aw niya (Tapnio) ug mahibong gyud ko nganong mohapit man gyud ang iyang kamot sa ignition key unya sige siya og pindot morag iyang i-ground ang wire ngadto sa ignition key para molihok ang kilometer reading sa metrosan. Morag tulis man ni sa atubangan,” Petecio told ABS-CBN TV Patrol-Cebu.

Petecio boarded the taxi from the pier area around 2 a.m. to his residence in Felina Village when he noticed something irregular in the meter.

Petecio said his usual fare from pier area to Felina Village is P70 but it reached to P110 when he boarded Tapnio’s taxi yesterday dawn.

Petecio brought Tapnio, 35, to the traffic division of Cebu City Police Office but the driver was not detained for any criminal offense. His taxi unit was not also impounded.

However, traffic investigators issued a temporary operator’s permit (TOP) to Tapnio and confiscated his driver’s license.

First offense for such violation carries a fine of P2,500 and only during the fourth time that the Land Transportation Office would then revoke the driver’s license.

Tapnio admitted having tampered the taxi meter but said it was another taxi driver who installed the wire that would tamper the kilometer reading.

Tapnio asked for an apology from Petecio, saying he would not do it again. But the policeman refused to accept his apology. - Ramil V. Ayuman/LPM