MMDA 136: irresponsible hotline

last january 14, my brother, bullet, texted me that he couldn't find our car, old, rusty, trusted "big boy", where he last parked it near park 9 alley in katipunan.  fearing the worst, especially dad's wrath, i rushed to where he was to help him look for the missing car.

naturally, my first thought was that it had been towed.  he had left the car unattended for hours, and the MMDA or the police could have considered the car abandoned.  but the scariest thought was that it had been carnapped.  (big boy is a 97 daewoo espero.  the idea of it being carnapped couldn't be foremost in our minds, but still a possibility.)

along the way, i saw some MMDA traffic personnel and asked them if there was any report made about a car being towed along katipunan on that day.  they had only started their shift so they told me to call the MMDA hotline, 136, to inquire.  they assured me that if it was the MMDA who had towed the vehicle (if it was towed), then 136 operators would have that information.

i immediately dialed 136 on my cellphone and got to talk to a male operator named "Reyes."  i told him about the missing vehicle, the make of the car and the plate number, and the location where it was parked.  it took him around five minutes to tell me, "Ma'am, wala pong report dito.  Derecho na kayo sa Karingal.  Carnapped na yun."  of course, i was scared that he was telling me the truth.  so i verified with him and repeated my narration, and he confirmed that (1) there was no report, and (2) i should go to Karingal to report the carnapping.  he even sounded annoyed that he had to repeat what he had just said.

i fetched my brothers and told them about the phone conversation.  bullet looked very scared, niccolo couldn't believe it.  so niccolo told me to drive around the area for a while, just to take a look around, and we could drop by the barangay hall to make sure that there was no report made.

when we got to the barangay hall, the men on duty told us that (1) yes, they had witnessed that the car was towed by the MMDA, and (2) they listed the information on the vehicle and the towing company because they saw that the MMDA didn't even leave a note about the towing.  thank God for local government employees who still know what to do!!!

so i again called 136 and asked if there was a report made.  again, the reply was "No."  no towing, no report, they were sure, go to Karingal.  then i told them that i was actually at the barangay hall and they had seen the towing, and that they were sure that it was the MMDA who had towed the car.  the operator became silent, and then told me to hold.  after holding for around 5 minutes, the operator "Delia" got back to me and told me that they really had no report about the towing, but if i wanted to check, i could go to their impounding area and look for our car.

whoa... they weren't sure about the towing but i could go LOOK for my car???  what do they think, they can just tow cars without leaving a note, and then tell you to just go  and look for it on your own???

i swallowed all my anger and calmly told "Delia":  "ate, nawawala yung kotse namin. tinow nyo daw. may record sila ng plate number nung nag-tow, eto, ibibigay ko sa yo.  ATP Towing Service, MMDA Ultra I No.MM2017 MMD, plate number TTK535.  Abogado ako.  Hanapin nyo po yung kotse, sabihin nyo sa kin kung nasaang lupalop ng kung saang impounding area nyo yan, at tatawag po ako uli. salamat."

i called after 15 minutes, and was told by "Delia" to call again because they were tracing the records of all their towing services.  oh.my.friggin.gosh. but i had to be calm and collected.  our CAR was still missing.

after another 10 minutes, i called.  "Delia" happily told me that they had a positive report that matched the make & number of our car.  but she still couldn't trace where the car was brought by the towing service.  she said i could try going to their rosario or ultra impounding areas.  i again told her that i couldn't afford to drive to somewhere without being sure.  so i told her to please complete all information and that the next time i called, i hoped i would already know where to redeem our car.

so after another 15 minutes of twiddling our thumbs and hoping for clarity and knowledge and wisdom for all those MMDA personnel, i called "Delia" and was finally informed that big boy was at the impounding area near ULTRA in pasig.  i breathed a sigh of relief, and thanked her for the information.

i couldn't believe what would have happened had i gone straight to karingal to report a carnapping.  i dread to think about the repercussions that could have happened, considering our network and connections... considering me and the kind of noise i can make, responsibly or not.  luck was actually on their side when i couldn't get a hold of any of my policemen or city hall friends.  or not.

but we had a car to fetch, so off to pasig we went.  what happened at the impounding area is another horrifying story.