Businesswoman hits MMDA for illegal towing, extortion

MANILA, Philippines - A businesswoman accused personnel of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) of extorting P150 from her driver after illegally towing her pickup truck to the MMDA garage in Pasig City.

In a letter to The STAR, Susana Calalay-Yniguez said last May 9, while her driver was negotiating the Katipunan flyover, he noticed that the cover of the pickup was loose and he stopped the vehicle to adjust the cover.

She said in three minutes, a BS Towing truck with body number 268 appeared and stopped in front of her vehicle.

“A man jumped out of the truck and instantaneously hooked the front of our pickup to his towing device and ordered our driver to ride with them in another vehicle while another man took over the wheel of our pickup.”

Yniguez said the towing firm personnel, led by Arman Malubay, pulled the pickup to the MMDA garage.

She said the towing firm claimed they had no telephone lines, so she had a friend, a “Major Torre” of the Quezon City Police District, call the cell phone of her secretary, who was in the vehicle when it was towed.

She said Torre talked to the firm’s desk person, Jun Tuazon, and told him that what they did was illegal.

Yniguez said instead of releasing her vehicle, Tuazon demanded P300 from her driver and secretary to pay for the gasoline he used in towing her vehicle.

“Knowing he was already at fault, this guy had the temerity to even ask that he be reimbursed while talking to a police officer,” she said.

Yniguez said her driver asked Tuazon to lower the P300 to P150 and Tuazon agreed.

She said her secretary told her that other victims were negotiating for the release of their vehicles, some laden with perishable cargo, in exchange for thousands of pesos.

“A woman in her 30s sits there running the show – accepting all the bribes,” Yniguez said, adding that the towing firm becomes active on weekends.

She said “something should be done to send them crawling back to the woodwork where they came from.” – Jose Rodel Clapano