Mandaue PUJs lose

CEBU, Philippines - The Regional Trial Court has denied the Temporary Restraining Order prayed for by the Mandaue City jeepney operators and drivers seeking to stop the enforcement of four Cebu City ordinances that prohibit Mandaue PUJs from plying Osmeña Blvd. and Colon route.

RTC Branch 58 Judge Gabriel Ingles denied the 20-day TRO asked by the Kahugpungan sa Mandaue Jeepney Operators ug Draybers Association Inc. (KAMJODA) against the Cebu City officials and the City Traffic Operations Management for lack of legal basis.

Ingles ruled that the petitioner through its officers led by president Loreto Gerez, Jr. failed to prove that there is an extreme urgency to warrant the issuance of a TRO.

Ingles said there must be a showing of a sense of urgency to restrain Mayor Michael Rama and the members of the City Council including CITOM chairman Sylvan Jack Jakosalem from implementing the city ordinance numbers 1837, 1958, 2072 and 2214.

In fact, Ingles said, it was established during the initial hearings of the petition that the said ordinances have been in effect for the past two years now.

The court has scheduled the hearing of the application for a writ of preliminary injunction on February 10, 11, 17, 18 and 25.

KAMJODA earlier filed a civil petition for declaratory relief, prohibition with prayer for the issuance of TRO and writ of preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the City Ordinance Nos. 1837, 1958, 2072 and 2214.

The officials of the organization claimed that the four ordinances have caused them “extreme economic and social prejudice.”

They claimed that the prohibition in the ordinance “resulted in depriving the petitioners and other jeepney drivers and owners of a lawful livelihood by not allowing them to pick up passengers along their lawfully mandated routes.”

Lawyer Augustine Vestil, Jr., KAMJODA legal counsel, argued that the 60 to 80 members of the association plying the Mandaue-Jones route have been deprived from the area since the ordinances were passed.

 “The City Ordinance 1837 and other ordinances were unfair since they prohibit the 21-B jeepney routes from plying the main road of Cebu City,” Vestil said.

Gerez said the City Ordinance 2214 carries a very big penalty of P4,500 and impounding of jeepney units if caught plying the prohibited route.

He claimed that the ordinances violate the franchises granted to them by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

City Ordinance 1837 prohibits PUJs with route number 21-B from loading and unloading passengers except in the designated terminals, while City Ordinance 1958 which was passed in 2003, requires jeepney operators to pay registration fees for the use of a designated terminal. (FREEMAN)