Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 15) — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on Wednesday handed down a preventive suspension order to Task Force Special Operations Unit Head Bong Nebrija after an early morning incident where a vehicle which claimed to be part of the convoy of Sen. Bong Revilla was allowed to use the EDSA bus carousel lane.
Present at the briefing were MMDA acting chairman Don Artes, Revilla, and Nebrija.
“Ang decision and we discussed it kanina, we will suspend Col. Nebrija pending the investigation sa nangyari,” said Artes. The suspension would be for a maximum of 30 days.
[Translation:The decision, and we discussed it earlier, is we will suspend Col. Nebrija pending the investigation into the incident.]
Artes said the preventive suspension order would begin on Nov. 16 and aimed at ensuring a fair investigation into the incident. He added they already had footage of the vehicle involved.
“Ite-trace po namin yung may ari ng sasakyan and irereport namin sa inyo once ma-find out namin kung sino. At irereklamo yan sa LTO para ma issue ang show cause order at mapatawan ng kaukulang parusa,” he said.
[Translation: We will look for the owner of the vehicle and report it to you as soon as we find out who it is. We will file a complaint with the Land Transportation Office for a show cause order and for enforcement of proper penalties.]
MMDA said part of the investigation will involve the enforcers who will have to explain why they said Sen. Revilla was involved “when hindi naman pala [that wasn’t the case].” The driver of the vehicle involved will also need to explain why he mentioned Sen. Revilla in the incident.
The traffic enforcers in the incident are not included in the preventive suspension.
On Thursday, Artes said the two drivers involved in the incident appeared before him and were given citation tickets and fined P5,000 each. They were positively identified by the traffic enforcer.
He said they mentioned Revilla’s name after they were flagged down, and that the lawmaker did not own the vehicle. It would be up to Revilla whether or not he would pursue a case against the drivers, he added.
Nebrija, meanwhile, said he merely acted upon the information he received, saying the incident happened in an area where he and other MMDA enforcers were located some distance from each other.
“Widely distributed kami and we are just relying on communication. Yun ang fineedback sa akin, and I made my decision on the information that was given to me,” he said. “Kung mali ‘yon, I accept that responsibility.”
[Translation: We are widely distributed and just relying on communication. That was the feedback I received and I made my decision on the information that was given to me. If that was wrong, I accept the responsibility.]
He said the enforcer in the area could have been intimidated by the motorist’s claim that he knew Revilla and was unable to verify whether the senator was in the vehicle.
“Apparently the information was wrong and that made me make a wrong decision also. But then, as the commander of the task force, the buck stops with me. I accept that responsibility. Kung isuspend ako ng [If I will be suspended by the] chairman, so be it.” added Nebrija.
Earlier, Revilla issued a statement clarifying he was not involved in the incident.
“My daily commute is from the south to the Senate and there is no possibility I will be on EDSA in Mandaluyong. When attending to official functions in the north, I take the skyway from and back to the south,” Revilla said, adding he would ask the MMDA to explain why his name was being mentioned in the incident.
Artes personally apologized to Revilla for the incident, saying a probe would happen to determine who was responsible for what happened and to identify the motorist who claimed to be affiliated with the lawmaker.
“I accept the apology. I’ll leave it to you chairman kung ano ang maging desisyon kay [on the decision for] Col. Bong Nebrija,” he said.
Revilla explained that he was caught up in the moment and therefore issued the statement.
Also on Thursday, the Department Transportation set the record straight on who could use the bus lane. On-duty emergency and response vehicles, government vehicles performing tasks within the busway are among those allowed.
Del Rosario emphasized that private vehicles who have an “emergency” are not allowed to use the busway.
Artes said in a briefing that authorities will strictly implement the bus lane policy on Nov. 20, Monday.
Artes said they met with the Department of Transportation on Tuesday who maintained only three types of vehicles were allowed to use the bus lane: public utility buses, emergency vehicles, and clearly marked government vehicles.
“In-extend po nila yan upon our recommendation to include yung convoy ng president, bise presidente, Senate president, House speaker, at chief justice of the Supreme Court,” he said.
[Translation: With our recommendation, they will extend it to include the convoy of the president, vice president, Senate president, House speaker, and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.]
Artes mentioned they would need to discuss whether they would include vehicles with 6, 7, and 8 protocol plates as they would need to see how this would impact the mobility of buses.Revilla also said the budget of the MMDA will remain despite what happened.
“No. Hindi kasalanan ng isang tao, dalawa, tatlo para irecall natin, pahirapan ang buong MMDA,” he said.
[Translation: No. The fault of a few people does not justify making the rest of the MMDA suffer.]
