After viral Facebook post, MMDA looks at tow firms

THE METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has announced that it will be reassessing all its accredited towing companies after it suspended one firm last week for its personnel’s alleged involvement in a failed extortion try.

During the agency’s Sunday radio program, MMDA Chair Emerson Carlos said they would need to revalidate their list of towing companies to ensure that these were complying with  the proper towing procedure.

“We always tell them what the right process is but they still end up not following [it],” Carlos added.

According to him, these errant firms were not only destroying their reputation but also that of the MMDA. “It still reflects on us because they are under our supervision. They may be private companies but they still carry the name of the agency because they have our accreditation,” he said.

As of May last year, the agency has accredited 30 towing firms operating 72 tow trucks in Metro Manila.

Last week, the MMDA ordered the indefinite suspension of Arcson Towing Services after the post of a vehicle owner, Kristen Ann Uy Baron, went viral on social media.

According to Baron, the tow company’s personnel took the car keys from her driver in Quezon City, claimed the vehicle was illegally parked and tried to drive away in it, saying they were towing it.

She said when she confronted the tow firm personnel, they asked her for P4,000 in exchange for releasing her vehicle.

Baron added that she and her driver were made to get inside her car with one of the tow firm personnel driving it. At Ortigas, they attached her vehicle to a tow truck.

A phone call to her husband who later arrived and argued with the men resulted in their car being released without any money being exchanged, she said in her Facebook post.

Carlos said that they had assisted Baron in filing a formal complaint at the MMDA complaints division against the personnel of Arcson Towing Services.

At the same time, he reminded car owners to be aware of the proper towing procedure to avoid similar incidents.

“First in the towing procedure is that towing companies should make sure that a car has been abandoned for about five minutes,” he said.

“If there is a driver inside the car, he or she should only be issued a traffic violation receipt [by an MMDA traffic constable],” Carlos added.

According to him, if the driver is not around, towing companies still need to follow the procedure. “They still need to wait for five minutes to tell if the car was really abandoned then if no one shows up, tow trucks need to blow their horn for about a minute,” Carlos said. This will warn the driver of the vehicle who could be a few meters away from the vehicle, he explained.

MMDA Traffic Discipline Office head Cris Saruca earlier said that they would require towing personnel to undergo a seminar and training on proper towing procedure along with a drug test. -Angelica Cruz, Maricar B. Brizuela