Moving the economy on the road

 The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are agencies under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

The LTO is the agency in charge of the licensing of all drivers and registration of all land transportation vehicles. The LTFRB, on the other hand, handles franchising of all land vehicles used for public conveyance and regulation of the same.  

Last June 2, the DOTC issued a Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01. It implements, among other things, higher fines and penalties on colorum vehicles, and other violations of the country’s land transport laws and rules as enforced by both the LTFRB and the LTO.

Under the new fines against colorum public utility vehicles (PUVs), the LTFRB would fine the operator of the errant public utility bus (PUB) as much as P1 million; truck and van operators, P200,000; sedan operators, P120,000; jeepney owners, P50,000; and motorcycle operators, P6,000. The ultimate penalty for operators for the succeeding offense is impounding the colorum unit and cancellation of  franchise of the entire fleet of buses, trucks, vans, jeepneys, or tricycles. 

The LTO, on the other hand, will impose a fine of P250 and three-month suspension of driver’s license for the first offense of colorum driver; P500 fine and six months suspension of license for second offense; and P750 and one year suspension of license for third offense.

The stiffer fines are expected to help solve the perennial problem of illegal operations of unauthorized PUVs, or simply called colorum units that worsen the road congestion and traffic jams.

Because they operate without franchise granted by the LTFRB, these PUVs plying the roads are not only illegal per se but also pose grave danger to passengers.

Since they operate illegally, these PUVs do not go through the roadworthiness tests and other LTO and LTFRB procedures before they are cleared for registration and their franchises renewed. So more often than not, we see and hear about vehicular accidents involve mostly colorum buses or jeepneys that have break failure, or worn-out tires, and other man-made road disasters like pileups. When these colorum units meet accident, unfortunately, the poor passengers are doubly victimized because these illegal public transports are not properly covered by insurance.

Instead of being welcomed, the government’s tougher anti-colorum drive was vehemently opposed. Ironically, operators of public conveyances who supposedly have legitimate and valid franchises to ply their fleet of transport-for-hire vehicles strongly objected to the higher fines against colorum. And for what reason?

The more vocal ones were the militant groups of drivers and operators of public utility jeepneys (PUJs), claiming lack of public consultations before the new rules were enforced. Naturally, the official spokesman of the DOTC denied such claims.

To dramatize their objections, they staged last week a public transport strike that paralyzed certain parts of Metro Manila and other provinces. This was after the Supreme Court (SC) did not grant their petition to issue temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of the higher fines and penalties. But the High Court ordered the DOTC, the LTO and the LTFRB to submit their respective comments on the petition.

Deputized agents of LTO apprehended ten colorum buses during the first day of the imposition of higher fines for colorum last June 19. LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. ordered the colorum buses impounded to serve a stern warning to operators and drivers that LTO will strictly enforce transport rules to ensure the safety of the riding public.

“We are serious in putting a stop to rampant violations of land transportation regulations. As part of our reform program, one of our priorities is to instill orderliness on the roads, for both public utility and private vehicles,” Tan warned.

The LTFRB, on the other hand, seemed to have soft-pedaled somewhat on its enforcement against out-of-line operations of PUVs. The three-man LTFRB headed by chairman Winston Gines issued last week a memorandum circular suspending the enforcement of out-of-line violations, or PUVs that operate with franchise but ply unauthorized routes. So, it’s just another form of colorum-like operation, and therefore still illegal.

The LTFRB suspended the higher fines for out-of-line violations for 120 days, or until October 17 this year. The LTFRB justified its 120-day suspension on this particular provision as giving the agency enough time “to rationalize first the current authorized route structure” before enforcing the higher colorum fines.

The same DOTC order also revised the schedule of fines and penalties on erring drivers, whether of PUVs or private land transport vehicles, as part of the government’s intensified campaign against traffic violators. Driving without a valid driver’s license was doubled from P1,500 to P3,000. 

For reckless driving, the fine was raised from P1,000 to P2,000 and three-month suspension of driver’s license on first offense; second offense was raised from P1,500 to P3,000 and six-month suspension of driver’s license; and from P5,000 to P10,000 fine as well as revocation of driver’s license on subsequent offense. Those caught driving without seatbelts on will be fined P3,000 instead of P250 while a fine of P1,000 for other minor traffic violations like illegal parking, disregarding traffic signs, illegal turn etc.

Last week, even the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) joined the groups opposed to the new DOTC rules on higher fines on colorums. The PCCI, one of the country’s biggest business organizations, cautioned it would purportedly disrupt the economy, specifically on colorum trucks.

Well, the PCCI — many of whom own fleet of vehicles and drivers under their employ, not to mention a number of their members are involved in the business of operating PUVs — seemed to be less than candid in their stand.

As drivers of the economy, they should be the first to support these measures that should have been enforced, as in yesterday. Stricter discipline on the road means a moving economy, un-stalled by any colorum and other illegal land transport violators.