Protect yourself from abusive MMDA Personnel

[greatauror28]

Let me share my MMDA story:

One thursday morning I decided to bring our Nissan Urvan to the office because we have no client for the day (we do VanforRent business). As I passed by the "pila ng shuttle" I noticed that the line was very long so I followed my instincts and make "pila" to get passengers bound to Makati. 14 passengers rode my van and off we go. Our urvan has dark tint at the back, passenger sides, at the driver's side and front passenger side ,but has clear/no tint at the windshiels. Come c5-kalayaan interchange, I was apprehended by enforcer Jhonny Ramos. He asked me where I was headed and I readily answered "officemates ko mga to, taga subdivision namin and ibababa ko sila lahat sa office - sa Citibank" . Having said that, the enforcer replied "colorum yan sir, tignan mo punong-puno" to which I cannot deny. He was giving me lectures pa about colorum drivers and their dangers to commuting passengers but I cut him short and said "tikitan mo na lang ako, mas malaki mawawala saken kapag na-late ako"

So, he pulled his booklet and scribbled. Then he handed me the ticket amounting to f**king 7,200php!!! My violations daw were colorum (6K), obstruction and something I cannot understand (1,200). He even let me sign the ticket. I truly cannot waste anymore minutes arguing so I signed the ruddy form. Take note: HE TOOK MY LICENSE saying I must get it back in MMDA Orense.

Afterwhich, I called my father informing about what happened. He then advises me to contest it (though I'm not sure if I'll win) and told me to resume the day and work first.

To make things short, I was scheduled for 2 consecutive hearings for 2 weeks, meaning I had to file a VL in order to attend. Things got interesting when Jhonny Ramos failed to show up in the first hearing. The lady whom I contacted for the hearing said that the enforcer was "suspended" for a couple of days for a reason I don't care to know. This gave me high hopes in winning the case.

The second hearing was set right after one week but to my surprise, the enforcer failed to show up again! I was then told to proceed to the part of the room where the enforcer and the contestee was seated face to face between a lawyer to discuss the matter. Of course, only the lawyer is present that time and he let me tell my side of the story. I told him that my passengers are only 6, two of them are my uncle and aunt, and the remaining are my neighbors (the ticket didn't specify how may passengers I am carrying). He laugh and told me "pasensya na kayo sir, matanda na kasi ung enforcer na yan, makulit pa" with smiles on his face. I know I won the case when I'm asked to present an ID. After handling the lawyer my Metrobank ID, he said " talaga si mang jhonny, pati taga metrobank tinatalo! Okay na 'to sir, wait ka na lang ng release ng license mo"

My license was released after 3 days without me paying even a single cent for it

The moral of the story: Huwag mag-colorum! hahaha