BONTOC, Mountain Province April 10 – The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) urged the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) central office to recall the numerous franchises it issued to tourist transport services because these are in direct competition with existing ones in different parts of the region.
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, who chaired the 2nd quarter RDC-CAR meeting here said, it is unfortunate that the tourist transport vehicles converge in the city as their staging area for their destinations “which are any point of Luzon” and they have no designated parking areas thereby contributing to the constriction of traffic in the city.
The RDC-CAR resolution requesting for the cancellation of the issued tourist transport franchises is in response to the clamour of legitimate PUV vehicles that were issued franchises which are now affected by the proliferation of the alleged tourist transport vans but are actually operating as garage vans in direct competition with PUVs.
Domogan also criticized the absence of the regional director or duly authorized representative of the Department of Transportation and Railways (DOTR) which is the agency responsible on the issue, citing that agency officials must make sure that their directors or authorized representatives will be present during regular and special full council meetings so issues that suddenly crop up could be given immediate action and attention in deference to the affected parties.
He revealed, while it is true that the tourist transport vans were issued franchises to travel to any point of Luzon, the vehicles make Baguio City as their staging area thus contributing to the worsening traffic congestion especially ccnsidering that they don’t have legitimate parking areas. It is lamentable that these were issued without any consultation with concerned local officials.
A number of legitimate bus operators in the region have time and again questioned the DOTR-CAR and the LTFRB for their failure to heed their plight by addressing the proliferation of illegal garage vans operating in the different provinces as an offshoot of the unabated issuance of certificates of public convenience or franchises to garage vans that directly compete with their operations.
Legitimate bus operators have strongly condemned the inaction of the DOTR-CAR and LTFRB to address the proliferation of colorum vehicles because instead of significantly reducing these, their number have actually almost tripled the past several years.**By Dexter A. See
