Trike drivers cause chaos in Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Police District (MPD) policemen fired tear gas and used water cannons yesterday to disperse a rally by drivers and operators of motorized pedicabs (kuliglig) protesting the mayor’s order banning them from major roads in the city.

The protesters, numbering close to 500, fought the dispersal team with rocks and bottles, even as the police moved in to break their line.

At least five protesters were hurt and several others arrested while a policeman was reportedly injured during the dispersal that ended at 2 p.m.

The drivers and operators parked their motorized pedicabs in front of the Manila City Hall to protest against Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim’s Executive Orders (EO) No. 16 and 17, which bans them from operating within the main streets of Manila starting yesterday.

The ban follows numerous complaints of congestion caused by the motorized pedicabs, but the drivers and operators said the city government is depriving them of their livelihood.

The protest rally caused heavy traffic along the stretch of Taft Avenue, Quirino Avenue and Roxas Boulevard.

Earlier, the police asked the protesters to open up at least two lanes to make way for public and private vehicles passing through Padre Burgos Street.

The police also tried to convince the rowdy demonstrators to voluntarily disperse and gave them an hour to leave the area, but the protesters refused and policemen started dispersing them.

The drivers and operators initially blocked the route towards Quiapo near the Manila City Hall at 11 a.m., then transferred along Padre Burgos Street near the Manila City Hall and SM Manila.

The protest rally, which was led by the Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Pedicab at Kuliglig Drivers ng Maynila (ALNAPEDKU-MANILA), started at around 7 p.m. Tuesday and continued until yesterday.

At around 7:30 a.m. yesterday, the group proceeded to the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to junk Lim’s executive order.

The protesters carried placards to express their opposition to the mayor’s order limiting their routes in the city.

The group marched towards Liwasang Bonifacio at 12 noon to hold their protest action. Two fire trucks were immediately deployed to stop them from parking their pedicabs in the area.

ALNAPEDKU spokesperson Fernando Picorro and other kuliglig spokespersons from different districts warned the authorities that they would still roam Manila.

Piccoro said more than 5,000 drivers are dependent on the ubiquitous pedicab for their livelihood.

The Manila City Hall, meanwhile, reiterated that the kuligligs will be allowed to roam the streets of Manila because its motors are not registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The authorities, however, encouraged the drivers to revert to the manually driven pedicab or the “padyak” so that they could continue with their livelihood.

The first kuligligs were farm contraptions, built with small Japanese engines used for hand tractors and small threshers in the early 1970s, which were more appropriate than huge American tractors for mechanizing rice farming. –Sandy Araneta (The Philippine Star)