CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Some 150 big trucks mainly used for hauling sand and other aggregate materials barricaded and blocked access to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) in eight toll plazas in Pampanga early on Saturday, resulting in a massive traffic standstill.
Starting at 6 a.m. entry and exit at the NLEx toll plazas in San Simon, City of San Fernando, Mexico, Angeles City, Dau, Mabiga, and Sta. Inez in Mabalacat City as well as those of the SCTEx in Porac and Floridablanca were effectively blocked and barricaded by the truckers.
They put up the blockade to protest the NLEx Corp. policy prohibiting the entry of 12-wheeler and 14-wheeler trucks on the tollway since August. This, despite their compliance with restrictions on cargo weight earlier set by NLEx Corp.
It was only about two hours later that the truckers agreed to clear their barricades and allow access to the NLEX after Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda made an appeal to them.
Slow response
But even as Pineda appealed for calm and requested the protesting truckers to lift their barricades, the governor lambasted the NLEx Corp. for its failure and slowness to resolve the issue which has lingered for over two months.
Pineda said 2,500 quarry trucks a day use the expressway to deliver their cargos to Manila.
NLEx Corp. communications manager Kit Ventura said they will be sending a management team to meet with Governor Pineda.
However, Pineda told the media at the NLEx toll plaza here where he made his appeal that he will not meet with the same NLEx management team led by a certain Allan Gregorio and decried NLEx Corp.’s slowness in resolving the issue.
NLEx Corp officials were also criticized for snubbing the Nov. 6 meeting with truckers to finalize the allowable load of cargo, said Lennard Lansang, president of the Porac Truckers and Haulers Association.
“The NLEx is owned by the government. NLEx Corp. only manages it but it decided to ban quarry trucks without consulting local government units,” the governor told reporters as he criticized the NLEx Corp for its slowness in resolving issues.
“All that its (NLEx) management does is talk. It does not provide solutions,” Pineda complained, adding he was worried for some 4,000 drivers and helpers who do not earn income as the ban entered its third month.
The daily rate of drivers and helpers are P1,000 and P500, respectively. Haulers get a profit of P2,000 after operational expenses and amortization on vehicles.
Governor Pineda said during the latest dialogue, truckers informed him that they have reduced the sidings of their trucks to be able to comply with the allowable load on NLEx.
“They cannot use the MacArthur Highway because it is busy and the road condition is bad,” he explained.
The governor said the prohibition was not being enforced squarely because information reaching him showed that some patrol guards allow heavier trucks in exchange for P1,000.
Pineda also slammed the management of NLEx Corp. after two its patrol guards arrested a protesting driver at gunpoint.
At 2:30 pm on Saturday, NLEx Corp. released a statement “assuring the motoring public that concerns on legal load limits being raised by motorists and truckers alike are being taken seriously by the management.”
It said it caused the temporary rerouting of 12-wheeler dump trucks while the major rehabilitation of the 5-kilometer Candaba Viaduct is ongoing.
The NLEx Corp. said last August 2020, it commenced the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the 35-year-old Manila-bound carriageway of the Candaba Viaduct and was compelled to temporarily regulate the entry of perennially overloaded 12-wheeler dump trucks for safety reasons.
Prior to the project’s implementation, the tollway company reached out to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), Pampanga Governor Pineda’s office and the mayors of San Fernando, San Simon, Apalit in Pampanga, Calumpit, Pulilan, Malolos, and Guiguinto in Bulacan, the affected trucking groups, and the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce to highlight the urgency of repairing the Candaba Viaduct to assure its long-term viability as a vital road link between North and Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
The NLEx also issued public advisories that the reconstruction will require closure of certain lanes and the implementation of temporary counterflow traffic measures.
Meanwhile, to assuage the concerns of the affected quarry-based truckers and haulers, dialogues are ongoing to demonstrate proper and compliant procedures for loading their trucks.
The NLEx currently implements the load limits provisions of R.A. 8794 and the Joint DOTR-DPWH Implementing Rules and Regulations revised in 2012 which sets the maximum load limits for trucks nationwide.
Meanwhile, NLEx continues to implement other road safety rules required under RA 4136 or The Land Transportation and Traffic Code of the Philippines which provide standard criteria for apprehending unsafe and improper loading. Several communication, education and enforcement programs are ongoing to ensure awareness and compliance of road safety measures by the truckers and haulers.
With the recent programs, reports show that load limit compliance has increased, indicating that the trucking sector is supporting the road safety programs and appreciating the value of promoting the safety of the expressway users.
Image credits: Pampanga Provincial Information Office Facebook page