Traffic enforcer slaps food delivery driver in Consolacion

IN A viral video on social media, a traffic enforcer in Consolacion town, Cebu slapped a GrabFood driver after he allegedly ran away despite being stopped to make way for pedestrians near SM City Consolacion in Barangay Lamac on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 17.

Marcelino Sabucido, who is 23 and a GrabFood driver from Upper Tabok, Mandaue City, was detained in the police station due to disobedience.

The traffic enforcer who slapped Sabucido was Maricris Vallejos, who is 40 and hails from Barangay Poblacion Oriental, Consolacion.

Initial investigation by the Consolacion Police Station revealed that Vallejos stopped some vehicles to allow a pedestrian to cross the street. Sabucido continued to travel.

Vallejos apprehended Sabucido. When she asked for his license, Sabucido refused to yield it. This resulted in an argument between them which was captured in the viral video.

Vallejos’ fellow traffic enforcers later called the Consolacion Police Station to report the incident and the local police arrested Sabucido.

In an interview, Sabucido admitted that he had made a mistake because he did not wait for Vallejos to finish signaling. But he defended his action, saying he had made sure that all the pedestrians had passed before continuing to travel.

He refused to hand over his license despite being asked by Vallejos because he was offended when Vallejos hit him in the arm.

Sabucido said he was carried away by his anger, especially since he had been delivering goods since 1 a.m. He was not able to rest until 5 p.m.of that day.

He said he wanted to work overtime that day to provide a bigger income for his family.

Sabucido said he has already apologized to Vallejos for the incident.

However, in a separate interview, Vallejos said she would continue to file a complaint against Sabucido for “Disobedience to the Authorities” because the viral video had damaged her family’s reputation.

On the allegation that she hit the arm of Sabucido, Vallejos said she did not mean to hit the driver’s arm and that she only intended to push away the phone the driver was using to film her during the apprehension.

According to Feliculo Leciones, chief of the Consolacion Traffic Enforcement Service, they will still wait for the results of the investigation and if Vallejos also has a violation, they will not tolerate it.

So far, they have not taken any action against Vallejos for the incident as she only did her job as an enforcer, Leciones said.

Leciones also urged the motorists to cooperate with the enforcers and comply with the traffic rules.