LTFRB hit for defying bus franchise freeze

MANILA, Philippines - The chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development said he is going to investigate the apparent defiance of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTRFB) of a standing order from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to freeze the granting of franchises to new buses in the National Capital Region.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said he is filing a resolution for a congressional inquiry in aid of legislation “on the LTFRB’s level of compliance or defiance of the existing policies imposed by the DOTC.”

Citing official data, Castelo said the LTFRB has allowed the entry of 2,393 additional buses from 2004 to 2010 despite a DOTC order in 2000 suspending the “acceptance, processing, and hearing” on certificate of public convenience (CPC) applications for passenger buses on provincial routes entering Metro Manila.

The order was reiterated by then DOTC Secretary Jose de Jesus in his 2010 department order, which also cited the Metro Manila Bus Rationalization Program.

The program aims to reduce the number of LTFRB-authorized buses plying the EDSA, to a desirable number and impose a moratorium on the “acceptance, processing, and hearing” of CPC applications on Metro Manila bus routes.

The lawmaker said it was not yet clear how many more franchises the LTFRB has granted since 2010, even as he lamented the agency’s reluctance to run after the so-called “colorum” buses, whose number is said to equal those with proper franchises.