FRANCHISES RE-ISSUED TO OTHERS

A NUMBER of tricycle operators in Dagupan City complained to Mayor Belen Fernandez that their original franchises issued to them by city government were arbitrarily revoked without due process and instead re-issued by the Lim administration’s Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) to other operators.

The tricycle operators raised the issue during their dialogue with Mayor Fernandez at the Dagupan City Plaza on March 15.

The affected tricycle operators said their franchises were revoked by POSO, then headed by Robert Christopher Erfe-Mejia, even before their dates of expiration for unknown reasons and only to find out that their revoked franchises were re-issued to other operators which is a clear violation of their franchises.

Mayor Fernandez, accompanied by City Legal Officer Aurora Valle and POSO Chief Arvin Decano, acknowledged the dilemma of the operators who were forced to stop operating their units. “This is very problematic,” she said.

Janet Madriaga, a tricycle operator from Barangay Pogo Chico, said she went to POSO office  two days before the expiration of the franchise due February 8, 2022, only to find out that it had been revoked. Instead of explaining the revocation, she was merely asked to submit the documentary requirements, and she did. When she returned a week later, she was merely told by POSO that her franchise was already revoked, with no explanation.

The same thing happened to both Marvin Aquino of Mayombo and Francis Jimenez of Tebeng who were merely told their franchises cannot be renewed because these were already revoked.

In the case of Amorsolo Federico of Pogo Chico, he was told by POSO that the copy of his franchise could not be found and had to be revoked while Arnel Franciso had a similar story: “Ni-revoke nila yong prankisya ko. Sa 2025 pa po mag e-expire yung prankisya, pero sabi nila, naibigay na sa iba,” he lamented.

Mayor Fernandez later told newsmen that she heard about double or triple issuance of one tricycle franchise but she had no way of verifying because the computer files of the POSO were deleted, including the fines and penalties collected by POSO from erring tricycle drivers and jeepney drivers for violating traffic ordinances.

Fernandez said she found out that the POSO then was allowed to collect the fines for traffic violations and to remit the same to the One-Stop Shop Business Center (OSCBC). But, the computer files of OSBC were also deleted before her administration could take over.

The mayor, meanwhile, assured the operators who lost their franchises that she will have their individual situation looked into and investigated and with the remind that all fines for traffic violations and stall rentals at the city’s markets must be paid only to the reconstituted OSBC. (Leonardo Micua)

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