Maria Isabel Lopez apologizes for driving in ASEAN lane

Actress Maria Isabel Lopez on Sunday apologized for driving in the ASEAN lane on EDSA over the weekend.

"Sorry to those who got hurt and affected," she said in a post on her Facebook account.

Lopez, on her Instagram and Facebook accounts, posted on Saturday about moving the divider cones and driving on the lane designated for ASEAN delegates.

“MMDA thinks I’m an official ASEAN delegate. If you can’t beat em, join them,” reads a portion of Lopez's caption, adding the hashtags #nosticker, #leadership, #belikemaria, #pasaway, and #selfpreservation.

But in her interview with GMA News' Chino Gaston reported at Super Radyo dzBB, Lopez said that she was not the only one who went against the traffic rule.

Lopez claimed that during the traffic mess on Saturday night, she asked a traffic enforcer to allow her to drive in the ASEAN lane.

The traffic enforcer declined to allow her on the special lane, saying that her car had no sticker saying she could use it.

Lopez, a former beauty queen, pleaded even more and asked if she could just use her face as her pass.

"Hindi ba pwedeng mukha ko na lang ang pass ko?" Lopez said, as Gaston reported over radio dzBB.

As she was waiting, Lopez said she saw buses and taxis behind her that were already using the ASEAN lane.

She asked the traffic enforcer why the other bigger vehicles were allowed to drive in the special lane.

He, however, had turned his back on her and instead approached the other vehicles who had already breached the traffic rule.

Lopez said that seeing other vehicles using the ASEAN lane prompted her to drive on it as well.

In her social media posts, however, Lopez said that she was the one who moved the divider cones and other vehicles followed suit.

Lopez said she is willing to face the consequences of her act, and said she hopes the other violators of the traffic rule will be punished as well.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have already recommended the suspension of Lopez's driver's license.

The ASEAN Committee on Security, Peace and Order, and Emergency Preparedness and Response, meanwhile, said Lopez's behavior should not be emulated by other motorists. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News