ILOILO City – Cracking down on unregistered tricycles and other illegal public utility vehicles, the city government is set to deploy 80 new traffic personnel to intensify anti-colorum operations and enforce the city’s transport regulations more aggressively.
“This is not just about enforcement, it’s about making sure our roads are safe, regulated, and fair for all legitimate public transport operators,” said retired Colonel Uldarico Garbanzos, head of the Traffic and Transportation Management Office (TTMO).
The recruitment drive is part of the city’s stronger implementation of Regulation Ordinance No. 2024-116, also known as the Tricycle Franchising and Regulation Ordinance, which aims to curb the operation of unaccredited tricycles that ply routes without official franchises.
“We need to beef up our manpower to sustain operations on the ground,” Garbanzos explained. “These 80 additional traffic enforcers will allow us to better monitor, apprehend, and educate drivers about the city’s transport rules.”
At present, the TTMO has 45 members in its Enforcement and Clearing Team, 12 traffic aides, and 30 more applications already in process. The reinforcement is expected to expand TTMO’s reach in barangays where colorum tricycles continue to proliferate.
In the past month alone, TTMO recorded 332 apprehensions involving violations such as illegal parking and unauthorized use of motorcycles, electric tricycles, pedicabs, and carrier-type tricycles on major roads.
The TTMO is also working with barangay officials to roll out the city’s Tricycle Route Plan and raise awareness about the anti-colorum ordinance./PN
