The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered the relief of a policeman who was accused of evading operatives of the Special Action and Intelligence Committee for Transportation (SAICT) when he entered the EDSA Busway using a marked police vehicle.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the policeman is the authorized driver of the PNP van that was traced to be registered to the Police Regional Office 10 in Northern Mindanao.
“The driver was already relieved for failure to follow specific instructions,” said Fajardo.
The SAICT has been very aggressive in enforcing the rules as to the authorized vehicles allowed to travel along the EDSA Busway. The vehicle driven by the policeman is not included in the list of those allowed.
According to Fajardo, PNP marked vehicles are only allowed to use the EDSA Busway if they are in the actual performance of duty.
In the case of the relieved cop, he was traced to be assigned to the liaison office of Police Regional Office 10 at the National Headquarters at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Fajardo’s statement came after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) directed on Thursday, May 8, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to issue a show cause order against the driver of a white PNP van.
This was after he evaded SAICT) operatives after the PNP was flagged down for illegally passing through the EDSA busway, specifically at the northbound of Ortigas station on Wednesday afternoon, May 7.
The DOTr said the driver PNP van disregarded two operatives of Special Operations Unit (SOU) and sped away to the northbound part of busway station when the said operatives attempted to flag down the PNP van.