Non-accredited tourist vehicles crackdown hit

TAGBILARAN CITY ,Philippines  — Recent apprehensions of tourist transport service vehicles, conducted by the so-called “flying squad” of the Land Transportation Office-7, have been assailed by owners of resorts that serve their clients with tours of other places in Bohol.

A wife of a German national, who operates a resort in a coastal barangay in Anda town, said her vans making rounds of tour of her visitors in the province have been apprehended recently, and made her pay fines on the basis that her vans were not accredited with the Department of Tourism.

The resort owner said the LTO apprehending officers required her to acquire another van in addition to her two existing vehicles to make her qualified for DOT accreditation. She however contended that her vans only ferry tourists who are staying in her resort.

The same sentiment was also raised by most of the van/bus operators in the province. Most of the vans or tour buses they said could not qualify on the DOT’s strict set of standards in transport service accreditation, the reason why only less than 10 percent of them are registered or accredited with the agency.

The accreditation fee of P1,100 shall be paid per year after compliance with other requirements and another P550 for each branch established, based on section 6 of the DOT rules and regulations signed by then tourism secretary Narzalina Lim as attested by Evelyn Pantig, undersecretary for tourism services.

Based on the DOT’s data, only five tour transport services in Bohol are listed as accredited with the DOT but all of their accreditations have already expired in 2010.

Jo Cabarrus of the Capitol’s Bohol Tourism Office told The FREEMAN last week that touring visitors using van or coaster or bus owned by resort operators is not allowed, and should be coursed through instead with the agency or licensed tour or travel operators concerned.

Resorts owners are entitled only to ferry their visitors from ports and to their resort facilities and not to conduct tour trips outside their resorts using their service van or coasters, unless these vehicles are DOT-accredited and sporting a tourist plate.

The BTO data bared that tourist transport services still existing and operating are those from the Association of Bohol United Transport Services Inc., the Bohol Tourist Services Multi-purpose Cooperative, the Bohol Island Operators and Drivers Multi-purpose Cooperative, the Panglao Island Tourist Transport Cooperative, the Panglao Sea Transport Operators and Paddles and Laddles.