Is Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic czar Edison Bong Nebrija tolerating the "mistake" of one of the agency's enforcers--specifically, the one who Col. Bonifacio Bosita chewed up for ticketing a motorcycle backrider for wearing slippers?
Nebrija set the record straight Tuesday, March 9, after a Manila Bulletin article on the trending incident garnered a lot of reader comments accusing the MMDA traffic disciplinarian of "pangungunsinti", or tolerating a person's wrong actions.
Posted by Edison Bong Nebrija on Monday, March 8, 2021 "Wala naman akong sinabi na tama enforcer namin (I didn't say that what our enforcer did was right), what I said was there is a process for that," he said on his Facebook, referring to an earlier post he made last Sunday, March 7 wherein he criticized Riders’ Safety Advocates of the Philippines (RSAP) founder Bosita.
Nebrija then dropped the B-word on the former Highway Patrol Group (HPG) official as he described the latter's supposed interference with the MMDA enforcer's duty.
"What I am asking for (from Bosita) is the authority to bully our enforcers and ordering them pay for their apprehension," Nebrija said.
Before Tuesday's Facebook post, this reporter had asked the Nebrija to respond to the readers' claims of tolerating the MMDA enforcer.
It was last Friday, March 5 when the popular Bosita made an MMDA traffic enforcer pay a female supermarket employee a day’s worth of her salary–aroung P500–for causing her to miss work that day.
The enforcer had ticketed the supermarket worker and her husband after the woman--who served as the back rider of a motorcycle--wore slippers and not shoes like her husband-rider.
The couple subsequently called up Bosita--who freely gives his contact details to motorist--to complain.
The responding Bosita lectured the enforcer in front of his colleagues on EDSA that it's illegal for him to cite the back rider in violation since, according to him, only the rider is required by law to wear shoes.
Although Bosita praised the enforcer for his good intentions, he still forced him to reimburse the woman's salary due to his erroneous interpretation of the law.
The supposed violation is contained in Land Transportation Office (LTO) Administrative Order No. AHS-2008-015, or the rules and regulations for the use and operations of motorcycle on highways.