Traffic cops renew campaign vs use of sirens, blinkers

The National Police renewed on Tuesday its campaign against the unlawful use of sirens and blinkers after it received persistent reports from the public on the blatant disregard of the law covering such act. Chief Superintendent Errol Pan, director of the PNP Traffic Management Group (TMG), said in a statement that many have been violating Presidential Decree 96, or the unlawful installation and use of sirens and blinkers, after observing that police has focused so much on anticarnapping and highway robbery operations. "We have to address this problem once and for all. Aside from persistent reports from the public, we have observed with great concern the blatant disregard on the prohibition on the use of these gadgets," Pan said. "We have been continuously conducting operations against this in the past but when we focused attention on our other functions like the anticarnapping and highway robbery, the violators take this opportunity and abuse it. So now, we will be again going after them," he added. Pan said they will not even exempt PNP personnel if found unauthorized. He said he is giving his men 48 hours to exert effort and submit their compliances. Pan disclosed that from January to July of this year, 80 motorists were already apprehended nationwide for violating said law. He said that just early Tuesday morning, mobile operatives, led by Superintendent Ferdinand Villanueva, chief of the Mobile Section of the National Capital Region Traffic Management Office, apprehended motorists whose vehicles are equipped illegally with sirens, blinkers and other gadgets. "We will continue our operation on this until we completely eradicate the unlawful use of the sirens and the blinkers and other gadgets prohibited by PD 96," Pan said. - GMANews.TV