ILOILO – Fines collected from overloaded quarry trucks rose to P570,000 as of June 30, according to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).
The fines were collected since January.
According to PENRO chief Arturo Cangrejo, most fined quarry trucks lacked delivery receipts, had tampered delivery receipts or had open-dated delivery receipts.
An average of 30 overloaded quarry trucks were apprehended each month by the provincial government’s Task Force Overloading.
Most of these trucks were caught in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th districts, said Cangrejo. These areas had many sand and gravel quarry sites.
For this year PENRO issued 44 permits for commercial sand and gravel quarrying and 13 permits for industrial sand and gravel quarrying.
Provincial Ordinance 2017-45 (Anti-Overloading Ordinance of Iloilo Province) aims to protect and preserve provincial roads. It thus prohibits from passing through provincial roads the following:
* loaded six-wheeler trucks with Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of more than 16,880 kgs
* loaded 10-wheeler trucks with GVW of more than 27,250 kgs
* loaded six- or 10-wheeler trucks with an axle load of more than 13,500 kgs
Violators face the following penalties:
* 1st offense – fine of P3,000 or imprisonment of one month
* 2nd offense – fine of P4,000 or imprisonment of two months
* 3rd and succeeding offenses – fine of P5,000 or imprisonment of three months
The loads of apprehended trucks are also seized in favor of the municipality where the apprehension took place.
Cangrejo said the fines should be increased but for this, the Local Government Code must be amended./PN
