Fake ambulance uses EDSA Busway, driver gets nabbed

A fake ambulance was intercepted along the EDSA Busway on Thursday.

In a "24 Oras" report by Joseph Morong on Friday, DOTr’s Special Action and Intelligence Committee on Transportation (DOTr-SAICT) intercepted the vehicle while passing along EDSA-Santolan on Thursday morning.

The interior of the vehicle was found to have passenger seats and no medical equipment, even though it had the proper outer markings and features for ambulances.

According to the driver, who was apprehended, he transported patients from Cavite for checkups in hospitals in Metro Manila but had failed to provide proof of transfer assignments.

“Ang kanyang pupuntahang mga ospital from Tanza ay PGH, San Lazaro at saka Fabella, pero ang tanong ko sa driver, lahat ng ospital na naka-indicate sa trip ticket niya ay nasa Manila, pero paano siya napunta at bakit siya napunta ng EDSA-Santolan? Parang ang layo naman ng dinaanan niya… Hinahanapan namin ng proof, kahit man lang text message, wala namang makipakita yung driver,” said SAICT-SOG head Rayson dela Torre.

(The hospitals he would be going to from Tanza were PGH, San Lazaro, and Fabella, but I asked the driver why all the hospitals on his trip ticket were in Manila yet he was on EDSA-Santolan. He was traveling too far… We asked him for proof, even just text messages, but he couldn’t show us anything.)

“Kahapon lang ako nakakita ng isang ambulance na wala man lang stretcher, wala man lang oxygen tank. Kahit nga yung medical kit, wala kaming nakita,” he added.

(Only yesterday did I see an ambulance with no stretcher or even an oxygen tank. Even a medical kit was nowhere to be found.)

DOTr-SAICT reported seeing an increase in ambulances during rush hour.

It said ambulances cannot use the Busway unless they can produce a trip ticket or request transfers from hospitals.

“Kanya-kanyang pamamaraan yung ginagawa ng iba, pero hindi naman natin sinasabing lahat, ganon ang ginagawa, pero malamang na mayroong dumidiskarte para lamang makalusot,” dela Torre said.

(Others are trying to do their own thing, but we’re not saying that everyone is doing it, but it’s possible that there are people who do this strategy as a loophole.)

“Hindi naman kasi palalabasin ang isang government vehicle kung wala naman itong trip ticket o dispatch galing sa kanilang agency o local government unit. Kung halimbawa galing sila sa isang ospital, itatatransfer lang yung kanilang pasyente; usually may request na yan galing doon sa lilipatang ospital,” he added.

(A government vehicle will not be dispatched without a trip ticket or dispatch from their agency or local government unit. If, for example, they came from a hospital and will just transfer their patient, they usually have a request from the other hospital.)

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson called for additional random checks during the rush hour to catch fake ambulances red-handed.

He said fake ambulances must be caught, and their drivers charged and stripped of their licenses.

The Land Transportation Office will also crack down on fake ambulances, especially those offering trips on social media.

“[It is] colorum... Once na may isakay siya na pasahero at nagbabayad, colorum yun, kasi ambulansya tapos may mga upuan? Sinasamantala nila dahil ambulansyang marking nila,” said LTO chief Markus Lacanilao.

([It is] colorum… Once they pick up a passenger who pays, that’s colorum, because it is an ambulance but it has chairs? They are taking advantage of the markings for ambulances.) —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News