100 defiant 'kuliglig' drivers rounded up in Manila

More than six months after the city government ordered a crackdown on them, Manila police on Wednesday finally clamped down on the controversial "kuligligs." At least 100 drivers of kuligligs – makeshift tricycles outlawed for using large, noisy engines – were rounded up in the city's main roads, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported. Manila Traffic Bureau head Chief Inspector Reynaldo Nava said the drivers face a penalty of P500 for continuing to drive the vehicles along the city's major roads. Last year, Mayor Alfredo Lim outlawed the kuligligs from the city's main roads, citing their noisy engines and their tendency to snarl traffic. Last December, kuliglig drivers picketed the Manila Police District headquarters to press for the release of 16 of their colleagues who were arrested earlier. Despite the ban that was enforced December 1, kuliglig drivers snarled traffic in the city by cutting off a major road near City Hall and triggered a violent confrontation with police. Since the December confrontation, kuligligs continued to ply major roads in Manila in defiance of Lim's order. Nava said the kuligligs rounded up Wednesday were to be brought to the impounding area near the Manila North Cemetery. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News