I had my first brush with a corrupt traffic enforcer tonight. I was on my way home to Mandaluyong from Airport Road and turned right from the middle of the three-lane road when a traffic enforcer suddenly stopped me. I was charged with reckless driving because according to the enforcer, I should have been on the right-most lane. I reasoned very gently and humbly that I wasn't totally in the middle of the road, the street was dark, it was my first time to pass by the place and wasn't totally familiar with the roads, and I was a newly certified driver (all true). The pair of enforcers managed to apprehend about four more vehicles behind me.

The enforcer then reasoned that he could not let me go because there was a CCTV camera at the corner and that he would be the one paying the fine if I was let go. He asked for my license and my registration papers (I don't have a plate yet, having gotten the vehicle about two weeks ago). I gave him my license and the papers. Then he started saying that I would have to go to their office (it was around 7:30 p.m.) and that my vehicle would have to be impounded and that I had to pay P3,000 because I shouldn't be driving without a plate according to this Republic Act he was citing, plus P1,000+ for reckless driving. I said "What, are you serious?" Then he asked for my ID. I gave him my media ID (I'm a journalist).

My companion on the passenger side who's also a reporter started calling his wife (radio reporter) for police contacts she may know from Pasay. The traffic enforcer just stood there and kept bugging me whether he should already issue a ticket. I told him to wait. Then, I told my companion in passing that I don't have any police contacts because I never covered the defense beat, and that most of my phone contacts are senators. I really didn't mean to peddle influence, but somehow, the enforcer suddenly decided to let me go.

"Sige sir, alis na kayo, basta bahala na kayo,'' he said. I was like "What do you mean?" "Pwede na kayong umalis, bahala na kayo. Ako na lang magbabayad ng fine (paawa effect)," he said. I felt like he was waiting for me to offer him a bribe. I'm not really comfortable with bribing people, so I asked my companion what we should do. "Let's go," was all he said. I said thank you to the traffic enforcer and left.

I'm a novice driver and I don't know anything about what I'm allowed to do with my car given that I'm still waiting for my plate from the dealer/LTO. The traffic enforcer said I'm only allowed to drive for a week after the car was delivered to me. Pardon my ignorance, but am I missing something? I noticed that the dealer provided me with papers with different dates stamped on them. Is this a way to circumvent this rule, which incidentally gives MMDA enforcers especially the corrupt ones blanket authority to milk drivers of new vehicles? I hope you can help me with this. What's the proper and lawful way to approach this? Thank you.