Coast Guard guard presence at EDSA busway needs restudy
CALLS are mounting for new Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon to restudy the deployment of Philippine Coast Guard personnel to catch violators of the EDSA busway rules.
I learned that before his appointment was announced by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin last Thursday, there were already moves by different sectors to call on erstwhile DOTr chief Jaime Bautista to “rethink” the presence of the Coast Guard at the exclusive EDSA bus lane.
A ranking PNP official told me that based on their observations and daily comments from countless netizens, members of the Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation or SAICT of the DOTr “are creating more traffic than helping ease the traffic along EDSA.”
“Worse, they are endangering human lives while they arrest motorcycle riders for traffic violation. They endanger not only the lives of motorcycle drivers and passengers they apprehended but other motorists in the area. It’s really time to show the abuses committed by this SAICT,” the official told me.
The main complaint is that SAICT personnel are like “birds of prey” or raptors who actively hunt and feed on others who comes along their way. I have no beef with the SAICT and their Coast Guard enforcers but I think the new DOTr secretary needs to get the feedback straight from the mouth of the PNP and Metro Manila Development Authority leaderships and of course, the general public.
By the way, my previous column about suggestions to pull out the Coast Guard from EDSA busway has elicited “likes” and approval from dozens of netizens, many of whom have shared their observations regarding the SAICT operations.
Dozens have agreed with me that the PCG personnel should return to their main job of guarding our coastlines and ports and aiding persons and vessels in distress, not catching EDSA busway violators.
Questions have been raised too on the sudden removal of MMDA personnel in the exclusive EDSA bus lane. I think that Sec. Dizon should also review many videos of 4-wheeled vehicle and motorcycle drivers obviously ignoring our Coast Guard men in EDSA.
Just watch the video of a motorcycle driver who crashed twice along EDSA while trying to escape from PCG personnel who have already surrounded him. These PCG men also endanger their lives and limbs too as they crisscross EDSA in an attempt to apprehended violators.
Right now, there is a need for the DOTr to restudy what really needs to be done to ensure that the 23.8-kilometer-long EDSA busway will remain exclusively for our carousel buses and those allowed to use it. Time to stop over-reacting too and allow marked vehicles authorized to use sirens and blinkers under the law to pass thru the said bus lane.
CONGRATULATIONS TO NEREZ, NARTATEZ ET AL
ON a personal note, I would like to congratulate some of my old friends who have gotten new designations in the government or have been promoted to the next higher rank as a result of their good track record and service reputation.
One of them is retired Police General-Attorney Isagani “Gani” Nerez of Philippine Military Academy “Maharlika” Class of 1984 who is now the new Director General of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Nerez is a no-nonsense official who became the nemesis of kidnappers in the country when he was still the head of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response or PACER which is the predecessor of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group.
He went on to become a Cordillera police director and was the erstwhile Undersecretary for Police-Military Affairs of the Marcos Jr. administration since August 2022 before PBBM appointed him to replace DG Moro Lazo who has resigned as PDEA chief for medical reasons.
Another newly-appointed official is retired Gen. Oscar Valenzuela of PMA “Marangal” Class of 1974 who is now the new chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board, the main government agency that formulates policies and strategies against illegal drug trafficking and abuse. Valenzuela used to be the DILG Undersecretary for Peace and Order.
I would also like to greet newly-promoted Lieutenant General Jose Melencio “Tateng” Nartatez Jr., the PNP Deputy Chief for Administration who took his oath of office before Gen. Rommel Marbil last Thursday.
Lt. Gen. Nartatez, the country’s 2nd highest official since October 9 last year is a bemedaled police official who is a known stickler for discipline. He previously commanded the Police Regional Office 4-A in Calabarzon region and the National Capital Region Police Office in Metro Manila.
Also a former director of the PNP Finance Service, Lt. Gen. Nartatez, a native of Santa, Ilocos Sur for the record will be the last Peemayer in the 232,000-strong police force to retire on March 19, 2027. In the event Congress approves a proposal to set the PNP retirement age to 57, he will leave the police force in March 2028, three months before PBBM leaves Malacañang.
Congratulations too are in order for newly-promoted Major Generals Nick Torre and Constancio Chinayog Jr., both members of PNP Academy “Tagapaglunsad” Class of 1993.
Maj. Gen. Torre is currently the director of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group while the soft-spoken Maj. Gen. Chinayog is a former PNP Forensic Group director who now heads the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management.
As everybody knows, Maj. Gen. Torre was the head of the Police Regional Office 11 in Southern Mindanao who was instrumental in the capture of Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Pastor Apollo C. Quiboiloy and four of the latter’s co-accused in a child abuse and trafficking charges. Quiboloy’s arch-nemesis really deserves his promotion.
