-
Bulacan congressman filing bill banning overloaded cargo trucks from Manila North Road
-
Ambrosio Cruz Jr, (5th District) is also scheduling a summit with truckers and haulers to discuss strict implementation of anti-overloading law
-
Public Works office overseeing the highway says repairs derailed by lack of funds
Bulacan 5th district Rep. Ambrosio Cruz Jr. will file legislation pushing a total ban on overloaded trucks and trailers from using the Manila North Road (MNR).
The section of the old highway (previously called MacArthur Highway) from the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan to Tabang in Guiginto, the traditional northbound artery that passes through the towns of Malabon, Valenzuela, Meycauayan, Bocaue, Balagtas, had been infamous for its potholes, especially during the rainy season, that it earned the monicker “Lubakan”.
Cruz will file the bill seeking a “total ban on overloading” trucks on MNR, right after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on July 25, according to an Inquirer report.
The Bulacan congressman said the bill will not only fine violators but also ban the passage and transport of heavy goods altogether on the MNR.
Under the revised implementing rules and regulations of the Anti-Overloading Law, (Republic Act 8794), trucks under codes 12-2 and 12-3 whose loads exceed the prescribed gross vehicle weight of 41,500 kilograms and 42,000 kilograms, respectively, and load per axle of 13,500 kilograms are considered to be overloaded and prohibited from traveling.
Violators are fined 25% of the amount of the vehicle owner’s charge.
RELATED READ: Anti-overloading law IRR update eyed to allow higher vehicle weight limits
Cruz will soon meet Central Luzon, Isabela, and Metro Manila truckers and haulers for a stricter implementation of RA 8794, as the violators are mostly trucks carrying 70-80 tons of rice, crops, aggregates, sand, marble, boulders, and other quarry materials.
To avoid North Luzon Expressway, which imposes overloading law strictly, these truckers and haulers use the MNR instead, leaving most parts of the highway in Guiguinto, Balagtas and Bocaue most heavily damaged.
He urged local government units of the affected towns to set up checkpoints in their respective municipalities to enforce the law.
Cruz found support from Henry Alcantara, head of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District Engineering Office Head, who appealed to all Bulacan mayors concerned to pass respective ordinances and strictly implement them to stop the destruction of MNR.
Alcantara said MNR and other national roads in Bulacan are arteries for transporting quarry and other construction materials as well as tons of other goods and products in and out of Metro Manila.
He noted the towns have vehicle weighing scales in designated areas but lack the police power to sanction violators.
Since 2019, Alcantara’s office spent more than P300 million worth of upgrading and repair works along sections of more than 26 kilometers stretch from Calumpit to Bocaue.
But an P810-billion funding for the rehabilitation work that he sought in 2020 was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Only P87 million was released in January for the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrading of a 600-meter section at the Balagtas-Bocaue boundary.
){kind=link}