DOTC urged to probe 'anomalous' grant of new franchises

A transport group called yesterday on the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to investigate the “highly irregular” grant of hundreds of franchises to Asian utility vehicles or AUVs by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Efren de Luna, Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO) national president, said hundreds of new franchises had been granted under the LTFRB’s GT Express program despite a policy that franchises could only be issued to existing FX taxi operators. 

“Hundreds, if not, thousands, of new franchises seem to have been issued by the LTFRB in their GT Express program,” he said. “This is highly anomalous. The DOTC should look into how this happened because there is a moratorium on new franchises to be issued since the... AUV Express program of the DOTC (should prioritize) existing franchise holders.”

The AUV Express program was drawn up during the time of former LTFRB chairperson Ma. Elena Bautista to identify routes, as well as assign the number of franchises to be given out for a particular route.

When retired police general Thompson Lantion took over as LTFRB chairman, he renamed the program GT Express, apparently to follow his nickname “GT” for General Tom. – Rainier Allan Ronda