Walang Wangwang, Walang Blinker: My Suggestions

In regard to President Noynoy’s (P-NOY) directive to strictly enforce the “No Siren, No Blinker” (WALANG WANGWANG, WALANG BLINKER) policy, except for those covered by exemptions like ambulances and police vehicles responding to emergency situations, I have the unfortunate situation of seeing an SUV with its blinkers on. I am sure that the SUV had no exception and I am almost sure that it did not have as its passenger the President, Vice President or Speaker of the house. I am also very sure that the SUV was not a marked emergency vehicle and neither was it responding to an emergency. My problem is that I did not have a camera to gather evidence that I can post here.

My suggestion is for the government to come up with text, email and phone hotlines that will handle reports. There is already the Dial 166 emergency hotline which I think is very good. However, with the increase in emergency calls, the government should add more operators and dedicated phone lines. As for the mobile text component, all cellular phone companies should dedicate one number (166?) as its emergency text number and another one (661?) to process non emergency reports. In the text hotline (661), the general public may report their corrupt barangay captains and local officials and similar complaints to include the illegal blinkers and sirens.

The authorities may then write summons to the registered owners of the vehicles or, they may conduct spot inspections. The action reports may then be loaded into a website for the general public to know that something is being done. This kind of timely action and feedback system is very important in keeping the public’s trust in the government.

A similar hotline may be done through the email system and for sure, P-NOY’s term will be seen positively by most people.