The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) expressed confidence that it can clamp down on errant tricycles, pedicabs and other vehicles now that the election campaign is over and candidates will stop coddling them.

Robert Nacianceno, MMDA general manager, said that they no longer have to worry about local elections candidates who more often than not seek to mediate between tricycle and pedicab drivers and the agency personnel that apprehended them.

According to Nacianceno, the elections are over and these candidates no longer have to woo the votes of tricycle and pedicab association members by “protecting” them and doing them other favors.

Last January, MMDA Chairman Oscar Inocentes ordered the re-implementation of a 1990 Metro Manila Council (MMC) ordinance which prohibits the operation of tricycles and pedicabs along major roads in the metropolis.

The MMDA said such vehicles are meant only for side streets and could endanger pedestrians and the drivers themselves if they are allowed to ply main roads and thoroughfares.

Nacianceno admitted that they had a difficult time curbing the operation of wayward tricycles, pedicabs and even improvised commuter vehicles like “kuliglig,” thanks to the interference of aspiring politicians and those seeking re-election.

Nacianceno stressed the dangers posed to commuters by riding wayward vehicles, especially the kuliglig which is not registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Since the kuliglig is not LTO-registered and therefore non-secured, its owner has no obligation to its passengers if the vehicle figures in an accident, the MMDA official pointed out.

The noisy kuliglig is popular among enterprising Filipinos because it uses less fuel when compared to tricycles and could be configured to have more passenger or cargo space.

Inocentes said the MMC ordinance is being strictly implemented. He added that the MMDA has already set up an impounding area where confiscated vehicles would be kept.