Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Thursday, July 7 slammed the unlawful use of sirens or “wang-wang” and convoy escorts aboard luxury vehicles along a major highway in Metro Manila.
“Tell (me) if this is not abuse. BMW GS1250 as escort, Rolls Royce Culinan and a Mercedes G63 for a back up! Itigil na ito!” Ejercito said in a post on Twitter.
The returning senator said heavy traffic can never justify the unlawful use of sirens and escorts along the country’s busiest thoroughfares.
“Lahat naman tayo nagmamadali. Ako rin ay nagmamadali minsan. Pero time management lang ‘yan. You have to live with it. Kinakailangan lang na tansyahin mo ang oras mo (We are all in hurry. I’m also in a hurry sometimes. But that’s all about time management. You have to live with it. You need to carefully calculate your time),” Ejercito said.
“What gives you the privilege na kailangan may pambully ka sa kalye para mauna ka, na nagwawang-wang ka? Sa akin, hindi acceptable yan (What gives you the privilege to bully so you can be ahead the others on the road, that you need to use sirens? To me, that is unacceptable),” he said.
Ejercito reiterated political will is needed to empower traffic enforcers to pursue individuals and officials who abuse their power.
“Trabaho na ng police yan, ng enforcers at LTO (That’s the job of the police and enforcers and the Land Transportation Office),” he said.
“Meron namang batas diyan. Nung panahon ni PNoy (President Aquino), kahit papano, sinama niya sa kanyang inaugural address na bawal ang wang-wang. Nawala talaga for six years, (there is already a law regarding that. During the time of PNoy somehow, he included that in his inaugural address banning sirens. It was gone for the past six years),” Ejercito stressed.
Ejercito was referring to Presidential Decree No. 96, signed by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
“Pag sinabi naman ni President BBM ‘yan, I think lahat naman susunod (If President Bongbong Marcos Jr. says something against it, I believe everyone will follow him),” he pointed out.