MANILA, Philippines - A bus driver and conductor were arrested on Monday after they figured in a fistfight with two traffic enforcers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in Quezon City.
Driver Eddie Magangcong Jr., 38, and conductor Kim Lester Padilla, 22, are facing charges of direct assault upon an agent of a person in authority after they punched traffic enforcers Robert Supan, 42, and Rodel Abanil, 33, said Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director.
The incident happened at around 3:30 p.m. along the northbound lane of EDSA near P. Tuazon Boulevard in Barangay Socorro.
Eleazar said the traffic enforcers accosted Magangcong after he unloaded passengers at a no-loading zone. The bus came from Baclaran, Parañaque and was headed to SM Fairview in Quezon City.
“Instead of complying, he and Padilla alighted from the bus and assaulted the enforcers,” he said.
The incident, which was caught on video by a netizen, showed the suspects and the traffic enforcers trading punches.
Magangcong and Padilla then locked themselves inside the bus. Police officers later arrested them.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), meanwhile, is set to issue a show cause order against the suspects.
“We conducting a franchise verification so we could a issue a show cause order,” LTFRB board member and spokesperson Aileen Lizada said in a statement.
An angry MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim confronted Magangcong and Padilla at the Cubao police station, where they are detained.
“I was informed you really have a bad attitude,” Lim told Magangcong, adding that he will defend his people who are doing their jobs properly.
Magangcong replied that he was only explaining to the enforcers that he stopped at a no-loading zone along EDSA as the passengers who alighted from his bus are elderly people with children.
Lim did not accept the driver’s explanation and vowed they will face criminal charges.
“With what you have done, I am now your enemy,” the former military general said.
Lim said they will coordinate with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board on the steps to be taken on the franchise of the Metro Manila Bus Corp., which “will be affected” by the incident.
2 fall in sting
Meanwhile, MMDA enforcers Henry Cruz and Crisanto Andal were arrested in a sting in Quezon City yesterday for extortion.
They were apprehended at the intersection of EDSA and Main Avenue in Barangay Socorro at past 2 p.m. after each receiving P50 marked money from a bus conductor, Eleazar said..
Roy Taguinod, head of the MMDA’s Traffic Discipline Office, said the two enforcers would allow bus drivers to take passengers at no-loading zones after receiving P50 from bus conductors.