Truckers to barricade Muntinlupa?

Some 5,000 truckers from all over Metro Manila threatened yesterday to barricade major thoroughfares in Muntinlupa City in protest against a city ordinance banning their vehicles from using the Alabang interchange.

Isaac Esteleta of the Confederation of Trucker’s Associations (CTAP) said the ordinance has left the trucks with no alternate roads to use after the Philippine National Construction Co. (PNCC) banned them from the Alabang viaduct as well.

"Where should the trucks pass now? This issue actually has a serious effect on our economy," Esteleta said.

He said many of the trucks using the Muntinlupa roads transport raw materials for export companies such as electronics, garments, and paper products and deliver them to the North and South Harbors in Manila for shipping.

Since January this year, the city government has banned trucks weighing 20 tons or more from using the interchange from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. after the PNCC disallowed them to use the viaduct because of its dilapidated condition.

But because of the city ordinance, Esteleta complained that the trucks have been missing shipping schedules.

For his part, Vice Mayor Jo Jason Alcaraz said the truckers are "barking up the wrong tree."

He said the city only enforced the law to ease the traffic at the interchange, and the PNCC is largely to be blamed.

"This is attributable to the negligence of the PNCC. Until now, they have no plans to rehabilitate the viaduct. What if the bridge collapses?" Alcaraz said.

He added that the truckers’ threat of a barricade may do good for the city’s problems about the viaduct.

"We’re more than happy to get the limelight. We need the attention of the national government to compel the PNCC to do something," Alcaraz said. – Nikko Dizon