DOTC lawyers to review LTFRB move on Pantranco

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will conduct a thorough review of the controversial move of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) declaring as valid  the old and alleged expired bus franchises of the defunct Pantranco North Express in favor of a group of inter-related bus companies belonging to a single family that owns the Victory Liner group.

In a statement, the DOTC said that no less than Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II had ordered the department’s legal office, headed by Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo “Juju” Lotilla, to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive review” of the decision of LTFRB declaring as valid some 489 bus franchises of Pantranco and its transfer to a number of bus companies.

In a complaint-letter to Roxas, five bus companies blew the whistle on the “indecent haste” of LTFRB to revive 489 bus franchises legally declared in 1993 and awarded the lines to companies belonging to the largest bus line operating family in Luzon.

The complaint, signed by five large bus operators in North and Central Luzon, asked Roxas to investigate the alleged hasty and illegal award of the long-dead franchises of the defunct Pantranco North Express Inc. to companies all owned by members of the Hernandez family, the largest bus operator in Luzon, through their Victory Lines.

The 489 Pantranco bus franchises, the complainants said, represent “choice and much-coveted” bus lines between North and Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

Lawyer Jaime Jacob, LTFRB chairman, for his part, confirmed the board had approved the revival of the 498 bus franchises in a recent hearing, but said that he had voted against it. However, he was outvoted by his two board members in the LTFRB, namely Manuel Iway and Samuel Julius Garcia.

The five companies stressed that the DOTC and the LTFRB itself had consistently ruled over the past 20 years that the lines of the long-defunct Pantranco had expired and that the award will wreak havoc on the franchising rules of the Public Service Law.

The absence of a legal basis to resurrect the dead lines was a fact of life within the transport industry circle and this discouraged even the most corrupt schemers under the previous administration from even attempting to revive and make money out of the Pantranco franchises, the complainants added.

“Never in the history of the Public Service Law has there been a wholesale grant of 489 units to one bus-owning family. Even the most corrupt schemers under the previous administration dared not resurrect the dead franchises of Pantranco because there was barely any legal cover for reviving certificates of public convenience which validity had expired 20 years ago,” they said.

The GV Florida Bus Lines, Dagupan Bus Lines, Saulog Transit, Partas, and Baliwag Transit wrote the letter to Roxas.

Just last January, the complainants said, the LTFRB even informed some members of the House of Representatives who made inquiries on the Pantranco franchises that the lines had long expired.

Last month, the agency awarded the 489 lines to supposedly retrenched workers of Pantranco – who then promptly ceded the lines to five bus companies, namely Pangasinan Five Star, Victory Liner, Bataan Transit, First North Luzon Bus Co. and Luzon Cisco Transport. The five are all owned by members of the Hernandez family, the family that dominates bus operations in Luzon.

“The award of the dead franchises also sets back the expected shift to governing paradigm of integrity, accountability, and honesty in the various agencies and instrumentalities of government which was the general call at the conclusion of the impeachment trial,” they added.