MMDA enforcer hit by speeding jeep along 'killer highway'

(Updated 5:58 p.m.) A traffic enforcer of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority was hurt after being sideswiped by a speeding passenger jeep along the notorious "killer highway" in Quezon City Thursday morning. The MMDA said Edwin Lamban, a member of its Task Force Lawin, was hit by a jeep (NXS-265) driven by one Frederick Salio along Commonwealth Avenue at around 8:30 a.m. "MMDA enforcers flagged down Salio for violating the 60-kilometer per hour speed limit, but instead of stopping, he raced off towards the Litex area, prompting Lamban to go after him aboard his service motorcycle," the MMDA said in a news release posted on its website Thursday afternoon. The MMDA statement claimed Salio was apprehended afterwards, but further verification showed that no arrest was made as of past 5 p.m. Thursday. GMA News contacted MMDA Assistant General Manager Emerson Carlos who said that no arrest was made and only the jeep was found. In an earlier report by GMA News' Ian Cruz, it said no driver was apprehended over the incident. The report said all that was found was the abandoned jeep in the Litex area and that the driver had fled and was being pursued by authorities. [View Ian Cruz's report below.] The MMDA clamped down on traffic violators along Commonwealth Avenue following a road accident that killed journalist-professor Lourdes Estella-Simbulan last May 13. Estella-Simbulan was killed after a bus rammed the rear of a taxi she was riding. MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino appealed to the public to strictly obey traffic rules to avoid road mishaps. "It is very apparent here that reckless drivers no longer respect the law, and anybody can be victims of their irresponsibility and carelessness," Tolentino said. "We are consistently coming up with solutions to address the traffic problem in Metro Manila, with road safety as our foremost consideration, for both pedestrian and motorists. "However, no amount of enforcement and innovation will help if the drivers themselves will ignore and disobey traffic rules and disregard traffic enforcers. Road discipline is a must for everybody," he added. — RSJ, GMA News