Eight years later
Technically, it’s around seven years and six months to the day. But before I go into what that means, let me roll back to around two years ago when I wrote about these reckless truck drivers who barrel through the streets at night like they own the roads. I had discussed in detail the danger by which these rolling battering rams have gone about their business terrorizing well-meaning motorists late at night by travelling at breakneck speeds and swerving in and out of lanes.
We all know that, in theory, these truck drivers are supposed to be holders of professional driver’s licenses. As professional license holders, these people are supposedly more responsible, more aware, and with the prohibitive fines that go with the violations, more abiding of the different traffic rules and regulations. Unfortunately, we all know that this is not the case as many such drivers are employed in their capacity because of their lack of skills to make it higher in the corporate structure. Plus, they probably acquired their licenses through the often spoken of but never seen “licensing express lane.” As discriminatory as it may sound, this is reality.
So, what does this have to do with ‘eight years’? Apparently, in the Third Regular Session of the Thirteenth Congress of the Republic of the Philippines in 2007, one of the more qualified legislators to be elected into senate, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, authored Senate Bill No. 2638, entitled the Professional Driver’s Education Act of 2007. Section 3 of the bill reads, “All establishments employing professional drivers shall secure for their drivers, before deployment in the field, a special professional driver’s education program to be conducted by an accredited driving school. Such program shall be designed and geared specifically toward safety education and training for truck drivers.”
Fast forward to 2013, during the First Regular Session of the Sixteenth Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, the same bill, though now Senate Bill No. 1794 and renamed Professional Driver’s Education Act, is still being deliberated. Even last November 2014, Representative Linabelle Ruth R. Villarica (4th District, Bulacan) authored House Bill 5107 or the proposed “Professional Truck Driver’s Education Act” to further push the need to have professional driver’s license holders, specifically truck drivers, to undergo special education to emphasize the importance of their role in keeping the roads safe by observing traffic rules.
I do not know why our lawmakers are sitting on this law while these rolling menaces continue to threaten our safety. If the lawmakers are true to their word and look to uphold the mandate of the State to maintain peace and order and protect life, then why are they taking forever to put this truly logical bill into law? Will they wait for something tragic to happen to someone famous before there would be an urgency to pass this bill into law? It’s been almost eight years, what are we waiting for?
I do hope this bill will be made into a law soon, as this would, theoretically, greatly improve road safety for everyone. I just have a little bit of concern once this passes into law though. Tasked to draw up the implementing rules and regulations for the special education of the professional drivers are the same people who license every Tom, Dick and Harry, and deem the blindest of dingbats capable of driving. Good luck!