The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, or MMDA, apologized to Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. after his name was mistakenly linked to a controversy involving a low-numbered car caught using the exclusive EDSA bus lane.
The MMDA, in a statement Wednesday, said it was investigating how the senator's name came up after its enforcers flagged down a vehicle illegally on the EDSA bus lane on the morning of 15 November.
"Based on our CCTV footage, the license plate of the flagged down vehicle was a protocol plate, and we are probing how the name of the Senator was involved," it said. "Likewise, the agency wants to extend our apologies to the senator pending the investigation."
Not me — Revilla
The Cavite lawmaker denied owning the vehicle stopped on the EDSA bus lane, pointing out that he does not regularly travel on EDSA.
"There is absolutely no truth to the malicious report that I was apprehended using the EDSA carousel busway," he said in a statement.
He added: "My daily commute is from the south to the Senate, and there is no possibility I would be on EDSA in Mandaluyong. When attending official functions in the north, I take the Skyway to and from the south."
The Senate building is located in Pasay City, which is far from EDSA.
From January to November 10, more than 11,000 motorists were apprehended for illegally using the EDSA bus lane. This prompted the MMDA to approve a resolution increasing the penalties for its unauthorized use.
On 13 November, the first day of implementing higher fines, more than 400 motorists were apprehended, with hundreds arrested in the next two days.
Revilla advised the MMDA to implement EDSA bus lane regulations judiciously and not spare vehicles with protocol plates.
Personal apology
At the Senate premises, MMDA Task Force Special Operations Unit chief Col. Bong Nebrija personally apologized to Revilla after tagging him in a supposed violation of EDSA bus carousel regulations.
"We are only human, we all make mistakes. The buck stops with me, the responsibility ends with me," Nebrija said in Filipino, adding that he had no intention of ruining Revilla's name. "If there was a mistake, it was all mine."
Nebrija said an MMDA traffic enforcer made the account of a convoy traveling on the EDSA bus lane.
"My judgment was based on the information that was given to me. We have no intention to defame. Out of courtesy that a convoy was in a hurry, we allowed it. But this was based on a judgment call," he said.
MMDA suspends Nebrija
Nebrija was suspended by MMDA Chair Romando Artes.
In an interview with Senate reporters, Artes announced the preventive suspension of Nebrija beginning Thursday, pending an investigation on the tagging of Revilla in a supposed violation of EDSA bus lane regulations.
Artes said there was a need to suspend Nebrija to determine what happened. He said Nebrija's suspension may last 15 to 30 days while the probe is ongoing.
He said there was also a need to probe why the enforcers thought it was Revilla inside the vehicle "when, in fact, it was not him."
"Of course, that would be lapses on the part of the enforcers," Artes told reporters in Filipino.
Artes also raised the possibility of filing charges against the driver who dropped Revilla's name.
Protocol plates on busway
Artes said the MMDA is still studying the impact of allowing vehicles with protocol plates 6, 7, and 8 in the bus carousel lane.
"Because there is a need to study the implications insofar as the mobility of the buses is concerned, especially with our congressmen numbering more than 300," he said.
