(Eagle News) — Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit organizers said charges could be filed against actress Ma. Isabel Lopez after they said she “defied” a plan meant to safeguard world leaders when she removed the cones designating the ASEAN lanes on Edsa and used them herself to escape traffic.
In a statement, ASEAN Technical Working Group on Traffic Management chair Emmanuel Miro said the incident that Lopez herself proudly narrated on her Facebook account “will be investigated and if warranted, appropriate charges including a possibility of a traffic violation” would be filed against the actress for the “misbehavior.”
“As a public figure, Ms. Lopez should be mindful of the impacts of her actions. We tirelessly remind the people that traffic rules are created to save lives and put an order in the management of traffic flow, especially now that we are hosting the ASEAN Summit. We will not allow someone like her to simply put our plans to naught,” Catalino Cuy, officer in charge of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the chair of the committee on ASEAN security, peace and order, and emergency response, added.
He noted that apart from the fact that the actress violated traffic rules with her action, she “put at risk” summit delegates who were only supposed to use those lanes.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said she could lose her license.
Lopez has since apologized, but at the same time justified her act by saying she felt like a “second-class citizen” in her own country because of the traffic on Edsa.
But authorities have for weeks prior to the arrival of delegates already warned motorists against passing by the main thoroughfare because of the horrendous traffic they anticipated would take place there.
“Driving with hazards ‘on’ at the #aseanlane. I removed the divider cones!! Then all the other motorists behind me followed!! MMDA thinks I’m an official ASEAN delegate! If you can (sic) beat em, join them! #no sticker #leadership,” Lopez had said in her post.