Soc recognizes jeepney barkers

CEBU, Philippines – Instead of apprehending them, Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez has embraced jeepney barkers by providing them with identification cards which would allow them to continue with their unlawful work.

At least 10 barkers who operate under the flyover of the busy district of barangay Tabunok have been given IDs by the city hall.

Fernandez said he could not allow the families of these people to go hungry.

In 2006, during his stint as the city's vice mayor, Aberdovey Belleza, being chairman on council committee on Peace and Order and Public Safety, warned the barkers they would be apprehended and fined if they continue doing it.

Belleza's move came after a group of Tabunok jeepney drivers complained about the barkers, saying they were harassed by these same people.

The drivers likened the barkers to sharks, who collected P5 from them whenever they passed under the fly-over.

Several dispatchers operate in the area, and the P5 given to each of them created a dent on their pockets, the drivers said.

The city has however no anti-dispatching ordinance.

But its traffic law dictates that it is illegal to obstruct the flow of traffic; and under the national law, people who extort money from helpless people, like the drivers in this case, are penalized. (FREEMAN)