MMDA: Fewer traffic violations with NCAP implementation
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) now back in place. —Inquirer file photo/Grig C. Montegrande
MANILA, Philippines — If the initial data are any indication, the No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP) is proving to be a successful deterrent to traffic violations.
On the first day of its implementation on Monday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) recorded 1,112 infractions, mostly for disregarding traffic signs, using the Edsa bus lane and motorcycle lane, and loading-unloading offenses.
“As compared to last week, on May 19, we recorded 3,982. We can see that there was a decrease of about 2,800 violators. So it’s really a deterrent,” MMDA traffic enforcement group director Victor Nuñez said during the hearing of the Senate committee on public services on Tuesday.
The MMDA public information office reported that 515 violations were monitored from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
READ: MMDA assures public: NCAP-recorded violations are manually validated
The NCAP was reimplemented on Monday after the Supreme Court partially lifted the temporary restraining order that froze the program in 2022.
It allows only the MMDA, not local government units in Metro Manila, to enforce the scheme.
The NCAP will be implemented 24/7 in five circumferential roads and 10 radial roads in Metro Manila, including Edsa, Commonwealth Avenue, Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue, and Aurora Boulevard.
Advanced cameras
Nuñez said the MMDA would also deploy advanced closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to augment the 350 currently installed to monitor more areas along the covered roads.
As to the scheme being a deterrent to corruption, he said: “That’s the beauty of NCAP, we want to lessen human intervention because we know it takes two to tango. There are some who are willing to offer (bribes), there are also those enforcers who want to accept.”
But with this NCAP, name-dropping can be avoided, whoever the passenger is. With NCAP, the only thing that will be received is a notice of violation,” he said.
House probe sought
However, not everyone was happy about NCAP’s implementation.
On Tuesday, 1-Rider Rep. Rodge Gutierrez filed House Resolution No. 2293, urging the committee on transportation to conduct an inquiry into the reimplementation of the NCAP, citing “numerous unresolved issues” about its implementation.
The House initially held an inquiry into the policy in August 2022, but it was rendered moot when the high tribunal ordered it suspended pending a full review of its constitutionality.
In seeking a fresh inquiry, Gutierrez said he hoped to determine whether the original issues surrounding NCAP have already been resolved.
Some of these original issues included reports of delayed transmission and lack of due process in the issuance of violation notices, inconsistent enforcement, and persistent complaints about unclear lane markings and conflicting road signs.
These were also the same problems raised by a group of public utility vehicles that questioned the NCAP at the Supreme Court in 2021.
“If we see that there is still no change in the implementation of NCAP, we need to pick up where we left off. This is not to say that NCAP is a bad thing; its purpose is good, but the only problem is the implementation,” Gutierrez told reporters. —with a report from Krixia Subingsubing
