The political bickering between the executive and legislative department of Tanjay, Oriental Negros, is taking its toll on several barangays.

The Provincial Legal Office said Mayor Baltazar Salma vetoed a barangay ordinance that was declared valid by the city council. Barangay Palanas had passed an ordinance prohibiting Habal-habal operations in the national highway citing the danger that goes with it.

But when the mayor vetoed the ordinance, habal-habal operations from Palanas to Tanjay proper continued unabated, provincial legal officer Erwin Vergara said.

The village chief of Palanas, Steve Teves, is the brother of Vice Mayor Lawrence Teves who is reportedly being groomed to run for mayor in the next elections against Neil Salma, son of incumbent mayor Baltazar Salma.

Vergara said, a number of tricycle operators are complaining about the presence of many habal-habal units plying the national highway. He called on the Land Transportation Office based in Bais City to enforce provisions of a national law to prevent accidents from happening on the road.

Vergara said, for reasons of practicability and accessibility, the habal-habal is most welcomed in hinterland barangays.

In Dumaguete, a number of habal-habal units are allowed but their operations are limited to the outskirts of the city especially in the evening when there are more tricycles plying the remote barangays. *JG

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