The Manila Times

Baguio apprehends 26 colorum vehicles

BAGUIO CITY: The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) reported that it has apprehended a total of 26 colorum vehicles in a span of two months while implementing travel protocols along the city’s border checkpoints during the Covid-19 pandemic.

LtCol. Domingo Gambican, chief of the BCPO Operations Management Unit, said in a report dated December 3 that the BCPO made 26 apprehensions from Oct. 1 to Dec. 2, 2021.

He said four of the apprehensions were implemented in October, 19 in November and three in the first two days of December.

Most of the vehicles and their drivers were flagged at border checkpoints for transporting passengers from outside Baguio and Benguet without the required documents such as vaccination cards or QR code from the registration portal hdf.baguio.gov.ph for essential travelers and approved QR Tourists Pass from visita.baguio. gov.ph for tourists.

Further inquiries by BCPO border personnel led to the apprehension of drivers for failure to show the required certificate to operate as public convenience and special permit to operate as public utility vehicle from the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board. The vehicles were brought to the Land Transportation Office for impounding and proper disposition.

Drivers who failed to show documents as proof to transport passengers were issued traffic citation tickets while those operating as colorum vehicles were apprehended for violation of City Ordinance 55 series of 2017 or the “Anti-Colorum Ordinance of the City of Baguio.”

Other cases included vehicles with tourists transport documents and rent-a-van but picking up passengers on different locations or with booked trips online.

Gambican reported that drivers were issued traffic citation tickets and passengers and drivers were subjected to triage check-up.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong reiterated that the police will continue implementing travel protocols amidst the continuous threat of Covid-19 and that violators — both vehicle drivers and passengers — will be dealt with accordingly.

Meanwhile, the city government has launched proactive preparations for the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Management Committee led by Magalong and composed of city department heads convened recently specifically to tackle its action plan for preventing, controlling and managing another probable surge in Covid-19 cases.

Magalong said that as they did with the Delta-driven wave, the city is preparing ahead of time by ensuring that all its Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate, or PDITR, strategies are well in place before any Omicron surge begins.

The action plan will take off from the blueprint for Delta with improvements and modifications in areas where they are needed depending on the developments.

Regions

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2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281736977739027

The Manila Times