Overloaded trucks banned on roads

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan -- Authorities in Cagayan Valley region have formed a task force that will go after overloaded trucks in an effort to make paved roads last longer.

Eugenio Pipo Jr., Region II director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said the crackdown was in compliance with a directive of Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. for the strict enforcement of Republic Act No. 8794 or the Anti-Overloading Law.

The newly formed anti-overloading task force, which will operate even on weekends and holidays, is composed of personnel of the DPWH, Land Transportation Office and the Philippine National Police.

"The rapid deterioration of our national roads is costing the government billions of pesos annually, and that’s why there is a need for the concerned agencies to apprehend vehicles violating the law on load limit," Ebdane said.

Pipo said that DPWH and its partner agencies are now apprehending overloaded trucks on Maharlika Highway in Cagayan, Isabela. and Nueva Vizcaya.

The Region 2 DPWH office signed recently a memorandum of agreement with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Philippine National Police (PNP), and concerned local government units on the strict enforcement of the law prohibiting overloaded trucks from passing through major roads.

"Because our region is one of the food baskets of the country, most of the truckers are maximizing the loads of their trucks to save on transport cost, but this is causing the fast deterioration of roads," Pipo said. "Their cargoes should not exceed the per-axle load limit."

As one of the country’s major source of food supplies such as vegetables, rice, and corn, the upkeep of the highway traversing Cagayan Valley is important in the efforts to stabilize prices of goods coming from the region, he said.

In Nueva Vizcaya, police director Senior Supt. Pedro Danguilan said, the Highway Patrol Group is in close coordination with municipal police units and the highways and transportation offices in the enforcement of the law on load limit.

"We are active in the implementation of this directive, but we are asking the help of the citizens, particularly businessmen, who will be affected by unstable prices of their produce due to damaged roads," Danguilan said.

He said that communications lines of the police provincial office are always open to those who are willing to share information on the matter.
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