Enforcers Tricycle Ban: Why do Enforcers not understand the Law

Enforcers Tricycle Ban Why Don’t they understand it?

Enforcers, LGUs, LTO, MMDA and even owners of three-wheelers seem to not understand the law when it comes to the tricycle ban.

You might think a tricycle is not allowed on national highways but it is not that simple because the law clearly states what a tricycle is and it is a motorcycle with sidecar that renders services to the public for a fee.

I have spent the last 2 years researching the laws of the Philippines concerning three-wheelers and I am shocked at how often I hear of people misinterpreting the law.

They seem to think there is a blanket ban on anything with three wheels.

I hear stories of private owners being stopped for plying on a national highway, getting tickets for colorum, out of line, no franchise, no permit etc.

So why is this happening?

In the 2 years, I have been researching and after the thousands of legal documents I have read it is very clear that the tricycle ban on national highways, the rules on franchises, do not apply to private owners.

LGUs and Their Traffic Enforcers Tricycle Ban

Local Government Units (LGU) have no real control over private owners as long as they only use their vehicles for private use, apart from normal traffic offences that apply to all vehicles.

However, it does seem that some cities and municipalities do think they have control over private owners.

What I have noticed is the way the laws are written in the Philippines, which means if you skip past the Definition of Terms and just read what is underneath the definition of terms it becomes very easy to read things into it that are not there.

When reading any legal document it is vital that you read the Definition in Terms failing to do so means you can not understand what the rules apply to.

In the case of laws on tricycles, there is nearly always a definition of what is classed as a tricycle for that law that states things like “A Tricycle is a motorcycle with sidecar which renders services to the public for a fee.” If you skip past that definition and just read the word tricycle in the rules, then yes you will wrongly come to the conclusion that it applies to all three-wheelers.

The shocking thing about this is I have heard people high up in these government units incorrectly presume that laws that restrict tricycles for hire also apply to all three-wheelers even those that do not render services to the public.

Even more shocking is private owners are getting fined, some are becoming scared to drive their own vehicles because Traffic Enforcers do not understand the Tricycle Ban

Trafic Enforcers, LGUs employees, etc. should not presume they know the law they should read it or better still have a legal expert explain it to them and they should not skip past the Definition in Terms of legal documents.

Then there is the fact that most enforcers do not understand English so can not possibly understand the laws they are enforcing as they are written in English. In fact, looking at the tickets I have seen them fill in I would suspect many of them struggle to read and write as it seems most tickets are not filled incorrectly.

You would think surely the LGUs would understand the law, however in my dealings with them even though they do speak English it is very limited English and definitely not of a standard to understand laws written in English.

You also have the fact that the word tricycle is the most misused English word in the Philippines. In English, a tricycle is a three-Wheeled pedal-powered vehicle like a bicycle and that means what is commonly called a tricycle in the Philippines is not a tricycle at all.

I could be wrong and it could be for some other reason they do not understand the law they are enforcing.

Enforcers Tricycle Ban do not presume what the law is make sure if you are an enforcer you know the law as it is written not what you think.