Not a copycat: Marcos says his anti wang-wang policy differs from Pnoy’s

President Marcos rejected the comparisons between his anti-wang-wang (sirens) policy and that of the late former president Benigno Aquino III, who enforced the same order during his term.
(Photo: Shutterstock)

He clarified during a media interview in Washington, D.C., where he attended the trilateral summit with the United States and Japan, that his recently signed Executive Order No. 56 is not merely about prohibiting the use of wang-wang or sirens.

“It’s about really the number of [low-numbered or protocol license] plates na binawasan namin (that we reduced),” Marcos said.

EO 56 hoped to prevent abuse and improve transparency by tightening regulations on the issuance of the special plates given to government officials.

The EO came amid growing public concern over the proliferation of protocol plates, which grant vehicles special privileges on the road, including the exemption from the number coding scheme.

“This executive order aims to promote a more transparent and accountable system for the issuance of protocol license plates,” the order said. “It ensures these privileges are used appropriately by a designated group of officials for legitimate purposes.”

“So that’s what really, that’s what it is about. So this is not about the wangwang, that’s a very small part of it. What it really is, is to impose discipline,” Marcos said.

The Chief Executive also issued Administrative Order No. 18, which Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed on March 25.

“All government officials and personnel are prohibited from utilizing sirens, blinkers and other similar gadgets that produce exceptionally loud or startling sound, including dome lights, blinkers, or other similar signaling or flashing devices,” the order read.

It exempts official vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Philippine National Police (PNP) as well as fire trucks, hospital ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

During Aquino’s presidential inaugural address in 2010, he announced a policy against the use of wang-wang, saying it showed entitlement at the expense of ordinary Filipinos.

Marcos’ father and namesake, the late former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., also imposed a similar ban during the martial law years.

The President also denied notions that his policies towards the United States and the West Philippine Sea are similar to that of the Aquino administration.

“No, I don’t see it,” the Chief Executive maintained.

Aquino’s foreign policy was regarded as primarily pro-West as he took China to court and secured the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal win over Beijing’s illegal claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The Marcos administration has also forged a deeper alliance with the United States after six years of the Duterte administration’s friendlier policy toward China’s aggression. — Raymund Antonio