“We’ve come full circle!”
MMDA division training unit head Edison Nebrija encountered a traffic violator he had apprehended before who is now “hitting the roads responsibly.”
The MMDA official on Tuesday, October 1, posted pictures of him with Darwin Yabes, who he said he caught “red-handed without a license” years before.
Driving without a license is prohibited in the Philippines and penalizes the violator for P3,000.
Nebrija said he encountered Yabes anew recently at the Mary’s Resto Bar in Quezon City, where the latter was “serving up some solid meals.”
“As soon as he saw me, he rushed over, all smiles, to reminisce about our not-so-friendly first encounter. Walang personalan, trabaho lang!” the MMDA official wrote on Facebook.
“But now? Darwin’s a licensed rider, and everything’s up to date! But it’s great to know he’s now hitting the roads responsibly. From traffic tickets to food tickets, we’ve come full circle!
Ride safe, Darwin — both on the road and at work!” Nebrija added.
He also included the hashtags “##AllIsGood” and “##RoadSafetyIsRiderSafety.”
The post prompted some Filipinos to share their own encounters with Nebrija in the comments section.
“Hanapin ko selfie nating dalawa, sir. Na-ticketan [niyo] ako illegal parking sa street namin dati… natuto na ako i-garahe [na lang] lagi,” an online user wrote with a laughing emoji.
Yabes saw Nebrija’s post and shared that he was “speechless” upon reading it.
“Thank you so much, sir Edison Bong Nebrija. Na-speechless po ako SA pag-appreciate [niyo]! God bless po,” he wrote in a reshare.
Earlier this year, Nebrija also praised a car owner who changed ways after being towed for illegal parking five times.
The driver revealed on Facebook that he already has his own garage.
The MMDA considers a vehicle as illegally parked if it is “parked in areas prohibited by existing law or ordinance for parking purposes or those designated by the MMDA and/or the local government units (LGUs) as NO PARKING areas or zones.”
Areas prohibited for parking in Metro Manila include national roads and primary and secondary roads of cities and municipalities in the capital region.
Primary and secondary roads include sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks and in front of authorized driveways, among others.
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