134 Trucks apprehended for overloading – PENRO

By: Gail T. Momblan

THE Task Force on Overloading of the Iloilo Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) apprehended 134 trucks in 2018 for overloading.

PENRO’s mining division head Lamberto Marin Jr., said the apprehended trucks exceeded the maximum volume of quarry materials allowed by law.

The task force oversees trucks passing Iloilo provincial roads to ensure that they observe the load limit.

Marin said coloured stickers help the task force determine the trucks’ loads.

The stickers that correspond to specific quarry materials (violet for sand and gravel materials, brown for ordinary earth, and yellow for limestone and basalt) are posted on the front-right portion of the trucks.

“Kon magsobra, that means nag-overload sila,” he said.

The apprehended vehicles were turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local government unit (LGU).

The LGU has the jurisdiction over the confiscated quarry materials, Marin said.

“Bahala na sila kon ipaula nila o ibutang sa dalanon nga kinanlanon irepair. Usually amo na naubra sang LGU,” he said.

Violators were fined P1,000 for the first offense; P3,000 for the second offense; and P5,000 for the third and succeeding offenses.

“May corresponding man nga mga penalties not only sa naga-haul, at the same time sa permit holders kon sa diin sila nagakuha sangmaterials,” he said.

The PNP also captured 178 overloaded trucks last year.

In sum, the PNP and PENRO apprehended 313 trucks and collected P857,000 in fines and penalties.

The province, municipality and barangay where the quarry materials were extracted will share the amount.

The municipality and barangay will get 20 percent share each while the province and the PNP station will receive 30 percent share each.

Aside from overloading, Marin said they also apprehended cargo trucks that carried tampered, open-dated, and misdeclared delivery receipts.

Executive Order 430 established the task force in Dec 2017.

Since then, the PENRO said they had conducted seminars to inform haulers and permit operators about the ordinance.

“Tipsters”, or those who provide information to fellow haulers, remains a challenge to the task force.

“Ang tipsters are regular naton nga problema. Ang driver mangtext sa iban nga may task force diri, indi na maavoid ina,” he said.

Marin hopes that haulers will be more compliant this 2019.

“Damo ta dalan nga ginarepair, ginakay-o pero agyan gyapon sang dalagko nga trucks,” he said.