Navotas clamps down on drunk driving

The municipal government of Navotas is taking the issue of drunk driving very seriously during the holidays — even if handicapped by the lack of appropriate equipment — and ordered a stricter enforcement of a municipal ordinance enacted two years ago, The STAR gathered yesterday.

"Drunk drivers should think twice before entering Navotas," said a determined Mayor Toby Tiangco. He said the ban on drunk driving includes those with even the slightest hint of intoxicating liquor.

"If you drive, don’t drink. If you drink, don’t drive."

Tiangco said the warning is directed to holiday revelers, particularly those behind the wheel, to act responsibly and avoid accidents.

Statistics have consistently shown that drunk driving has resulted in the injury and loss of lives, not only of innocent pedestrians and other motorists but including the drivers’ own, he said.

"We are doing this to ensure safety for everyone. Although this should be a daily concern, incidence of drunk driving are normally high during the Christmas holidays, a season of merrymaking. But if people want to drink, we encourage them to drink responsibly. Be sure you are sober when you sit behind the wheel."

Tiangco said his advice is backed by Municipal Ordinance 2004-13. Traffic enforcers from the Public Order and Safety Office will be posted in strategic places to enforce the ordinance.

A fine of P2,000 and a one-day imprisonment, or both, await violators. Traffic enforcers have been ordered to take violators to Navotas Lying-In Clinic for alcohol testing.

Dr. Hector David, Municipal Health Office chief, admitted to The STAR in an interview that they have no equipment to measure alcohol content in a person’s blood. So, how do they do this?

"We do this by literally smelling a person’s breath," David said. A verification certificate would then be issued whether the apprehended motorist is "positive or negative for alcoholic breath."

David added that the crude and Third Worldish test is applied not only to intoxicated drivers but also to people who have had one too many and arrested for creating trouble in their neighborhood.