A CONGRESSMAN has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the government’s use of video surveillance and digital cameras to catch traffic violators in five Metro Manila cities.
Quezon City Rep. Marvin C. Rillo, who filed House Resolution 237, on Tuesday said the government’s so-called no-contact apprehension policy might be abused by law enforcers.
“Our sense is, in their haste to deploy the no-contact apprehension policy to build revenue from traffic fines, cities are haphazardly rolling out the technology at the expense of motorists,” the congressman who is vice chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Metro Manila Development, said in a statement.
Mr. Rillo cited the need to safeguard the rights and welfare of motorists against potential abuses by law enforcers, including the risk that they could be subjected to excessive and unreasonable fines and penalties.
“We are also worried that motorists may be wrongfully burdened — not by the cost of violating traffic laws, rules and regulations — but by the cost of the technologies used in the no-contact apprehension policy,” he added.
The resolution also pressed for the suspension of the policy amid complaints from motorists.
Several transport groups have asked the Supreme Court to stop and strike down the policy for being illegal.
The cities of Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Quezon and Valenzuela as well as the Metro Manila Development Authority are enforcing the no-contact policy. — Matthew Carl L. Montecillo