Lawmaker to LTFRB: Cancel franchises of erring bus firms

MANILA, Philippines - Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. asked the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to cancel the franchises of bus companies whose drivers are involved in fatal accidents.

“The trouble with this regulatory agency is that for its own reasons, it does not want to exercise its authority to cancel franchises,” he said in the course of a hearing conducted by the House committee on Metro Manila development chaired by Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco.

Barzaga said if the board scraps the permits of bus firms involved in fatal accidents, operators would take extra care in hiring drivers. Their crew would be better disciplined, knowing they could lose their means of livelihood, he said.

He said the LTFRB could even cancel the permits of companies that field illegal units or operate “out of line,” meaning in routes not covered by their franchise.

“The bus involved in that recent accident along the STAR toll road in Batangas, in which eight or 10 persons died, was operating out of line. Did you cancel the franchise of that company?” he asked.

Nida Quibic, the LTFRB representative in the hearing, could not provide an answer.

“But I could recall some cancellations, the most recent of which is Universal Guiding Star,” she said, referring to the company whose unit was involved in the accident that killed journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan two weeks ago.

“But you did not cancel the franchise of Universal Guiding Star, you merely suspended it,” Barzaga retorted.

He said there are many other bus firms in Southern Luzon, Central Luzon and Northern Luzon that have killed commuters and passengers as well and whose franchises should have been cancelled.

During the hearing, Tiangco and his colleagues found out that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) could only enforce the 60-kilometer per hour speed limit along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City during the day.

MMDA vice chairman Alex Cabanilla told the committee that they are enforcing the speed limit by using laser speed guns that can record the speed and plate numbers of speeding vehicles. He said the gadgets need sunlight and cannot work at nighttime.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino, however, issued a clarification, saying the agency’s speed guns “are used on a 24/7 basis. Both our LIDAR and radar guns can still be used to detect overspeeding at night. Upon detection, our enforcers immediately apprehend the vehicle.”

Barzaga noted that despite the strict enforcement of the speed limit, there are still accidents along Commonwealth Avenue. Cabanilla said it is the drivers and not lack of enforcement that should be blamed for these accidents. – With Mike Frialde