Confusion mars jeepney franchise renewal
WAS the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board wrong in interpreting a resolution of the Sanggunian Panlungsod when it stopped renewing and issuing new franchises to downtown loop service jeepney operators here?
This question may not be significant for bureaucrats but the ensuing confusion arising from the resolution caused resident downtown jeepney operators to lose revenues after they were told they could not renew their franchises granted by LTFRB.
Nonetheless, for Minerva Ducusin, administrative officer of LTFRB regional office in San Fernando, La Union, her office denied they misinterpreted Resolution No. 3679.
On the contrary, she said, her office understood the resolution to mean an endorsement of the phase-out of jeepneys serving the downtown loop in the city.
But Councilor Vlad Mata, chair of committee on Public Works and Utilities, clarified that the city resolution was worded to mean not to phase out all the downtown loop jeepneys and not to stop the issuance of new franchises.
He clarified said the SP resolution sought that only residents of Dagupan would be given the chance to own franchises, and not to completely stop the issuance of franchise or to phase out the jeepneys but only to limit the number of the same.
Mata pointed out to Ducusin that there was no request seeking to stop the issuance of franchise from the LTFRB.
The members of the Downtown Loop Operators and Service Association (DOLOSA) deplored the decision of LTRFB to deny applications for new and the renewal of franchises move, calling it unjust, unfair and confiscatory.
The resolution was prompted by over-crowding of downtown loop service jeepneys in the city.
Public Order and Safety Office chief Robert Erfe Mejia said that the majority of the traffic violators were drivers belonging to downtown routes.
Mejia said that new franchises and old franchises of non-Dagupenos should not be issued or renewed in a bid to rationalize its volume vehicles reduction program. – AQL
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