MANILA, Philippines – Mayor Oscar ‘Oca’ Malapitan expressed resolve to address problems at North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and talk to its management about the inconvenience it causes even to the people of Caloocan City.

Malapitan said Caloocan City also suffers from the heavy traffic situation in NLEx as it borders Valenzuela City.

“In-invite ko ang officials ng NLEX upang nang sa ganon ay bigyan kami ng paliwanag, bigyan kami ng konkretong araw kung kailan nila maayos ang nasabing problema [I am inviting NLEx officials to explain to us and give us a concrete date as to when they will resolve the problem,]” he said.

“Talagang nauunawaan ko si Mayor Rex dahil talagang perwisyong todo-todo sa Valenzuela doon sa General Luis, umaabot pa nga po ng Caloocan iyan [I fully understand Mayor Rex because the situation really brings much inconvenience to Valenzuela especially in General Luis area. And the problem extends to Caloocan City],” he added.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian recently got involved in conflict with the NLEx Corporation for the latter’s poor planning and implementation of the RFID system or the cashless/contactless transaction system. 

He thanked Malapitan for acknowledging the problem and expressing his intention to address the situation with NLEX Corporation as traffic problems in Balintawak toll plaza in Caloocan City also affect vehicular flow in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the Toll Regulatory Board assured the local chief executives that it is also doing its part to help resolve the problem and fix the system in expressways adding that it will not hesitate to sanction toll operators if proven of neglect in relation to the issue. MNP (with report from Joan Nano)

CALOOCAN CITY, Philippines – The city government has started its online pre-registration for drive-thru RFID installation.

The pre-registration started on Tuesday (November 10), 9:00 AM at the Caloocan Sports Complex.

In a statement, Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan said the subscription form can now be downloaded. He stressed that only those subscription forms sent via online will be considered.

A duly accomplished form can be submitted along with a picture and a government ID to lgu.caloocancity@gmail.com. 

An e-mail or text confirmation will be received once the registration is successful.

Meanwhile, registrants may also request for their preferred schedule through e-mail or phone as a first-come-first-serve policy will be implemented. 

For every 30-minute time slot, a maximum of 25 vehicles will be catered to avoid congestion.

Failure to present an e-mail or text confirmation or to show up on the scheduled appointment will mean automatic cancellation..

The Drive-thru RFID Stickering is set to commence on November 17, 2020 at Caloocan Sports Complex- Bagumbong Caloocan City from 9AM to 5PM only. –MNP / Rhussel Egano

The Senate Committees have approved the proposal to increase the statutory rape age to 16.

The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality approved the proposed measure on Thursday (October 10). Aside from the increase in the statutory rape age, the age for sexual consent was also raised from 12 to 16.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, one of the authors of the bill, said it is time to amend the law especially due to the increase of sexual violence cases among children.

“As legislators, we need to ensure that our children are protected and that we set measures that will mitigate if not totally eradicate these alarming cases and statistics on sexual violence against children and teenage pregnancies,” Zubiri said.

The Philippines currently has the age of sexual consent at 12 which is the lowest in Asia and among the lowest in the world. -AAC (with reports from Harlene Delgado)