Complaint form vs jaywalkers
THE Davao City Legal Office and the Davao City Transportation and Traffic Management Office are crafting the template that will be used by the city in filing formal charges before Davao City Prosecution Office against violators of Anti-Jaywalking and other prohibited acts under the city traffic code.
Lawyer Eliza D. Evangelista-Lapiña, Attorney IV of the City Legal Of- fice told Sun.Star Davao yesterday that they will meet with the CTTMO this week to discuss the details of the complaint form.
"We will be meeting with the CTTMO, because we will finalize the complaint form. We will be filing cases before court for the violation of the ordinance," she said.
She said that they will finalize the draft prior to
the issuance of citation tickets set on September 11.
Lapiña said they will ensure that the format will be done to make filing of the case easier.
"We have a format to make it faster. Same goes with other ordinances such as solid waste ordinance, and anti-smoking ordinance," she said.
She added that the Traffic Code is being intensified to impose discipline to the Dabawenyos and also to give "teeth" to the code that was passed years ago.
Lapiña said citizens should not take the code for granted and should pay the fines imposed for them to be free of records having violated the ordinance.
"Kahit gaano kaliit still, meron ka nang record, magkaroon kana ng record, ang iba nga before nagsmoke nagtapon ng basura nagtago lang no problem, sige later on pagrequest mo nang clearance meron ka pala, akala nila porke hindi sila nagpakita, later on pagrequest meron magtaka ka nalang, so hazzle, sa National Bureau of Investigation, Police, Criminial Investigation and Detection Group, Court record. Sa court clearance, andami niyan akala nila ok na, kung wala sila naririnig nagpakita, so meron paring habol ang city," Lapiña said.
She added that ordinance aims to impose discipline and not to increase number of those who will be filed with charges.
CTTMO head Dionesio Abude said on September 11, 2017, jaywalkers and violators of traffic code will be issued with citation tickets, with a minimum penalty of P100 for the violation of the Traffic Code.
He said a grace period of seven days will be provided for the violator to pay at the City Treasurer's Office, otherwise, the same office has the prerogative to file proper charges before court.