Isko to truckers: Get out of Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Truckers who object to the Manila city government’s daytime truck ban, which will be implemented starting Monday, should get out of Manila, Vice Mayor Isko Moreno said yesterday.

Moreno was reacting to a statement by the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations president Ricky Papa, who said his group will stop delivering goods on Monday to protest the new ordinance that prohibits trucks from going through Manila’s streets from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“We are in a civilized world… Stop threatening us. Don’t push us to the wall. We have the law. If they are not comfortable with it, they can get out of Manila. They are not a loss to us,” Moreno said.

He said the daytime truck ban is a necessary step to ease the traffic in Manila and nearby cities in Metro Manila, since the construction of the Skyway Stage 3 along Osmeña Highway will create traffic gridlocks in the metropolis.

Papa said the ban will delay the delivery of products, including raw materials. He warned that there will be “economic slowdown” since the ban would only allow trucks to go through Manila at night, when factories are closed.

He claimed that the national government lost P13 billion over three days in 1994, when a similar daytime truck ban was implemented during the term of former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim.

The figure does not include the losses incurred by the private sector, Papa added.

Moreno brushed aside Papa’s claims, saying a Japan International Cooperation Agency study shows that businesses lose P876 billion a year due to traffic jams in Metro Manila.