Last week, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), amid overwhelming concerns from motorists, urged the Metro Manila cities, as well as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to suspend the No-Contact Apprehension Program (NCAP) until the issues surrounding it has been resolved.
In response, the Metro Manila mayors said NCAP will stay.
In a recent joint statement issued by the mayors of the cities that implement NCAP, they said that the program will stay as part of their support for President Bong Bong Marcos’ mandate of using technology as a means to improve various government services, including traffic management.
“President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), emphasized that government should digitize and make its services more accessible for more efficient governance. This mandate involves the deployment, infusion, and effective use of technology in the delivery of government services and functions whether national or local,” the joint statement said.
They also added that President Marcos has also urged local government units (LGUs) to get into more progressive partnerships with the private sector to support programs that the government wouldn’t have the funding to do so, and NCAP is an important step toward these mandates by the President as the program involves the use of technologies that are widely used in many first world nations.
“PBBM also urged us Local Government Units (LGUs) to get into more pro-active and beneficial joint ventures and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for initiatives that we wouldn't otherwise have funding to support. A good example of this initiative is the No-Contact Apprehension Program (NCAP)...”
The joint statement also highlighted some of the benefits that NCAP has brought, like the minimized human intervention that therefore eliminated corruption on the street level; instilling a culture of discipline among motorists, and safer roads.
While the NCAP has met with huge opposition from various motoring sectors, the mayors ensured that the program “affords due process” because the LGUs have their own traffic adjudication boards where motorists can contest an apprehension if they feel so.
