100 bus firms face loss of franchise

MANILA, Philippines – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) plans to summon operators of around 100 bus companies to explain why their units stayed off Metro Manila roads last Monday.

The LTFRB said an unsatisfactory answer may cost the operators their franchises as their failure or refusal to ply their routes last Monday stranded thousands of passengers along EDSA and Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

LTFRB Chairman Nelson Laluces said they would send show-cause orders to the bus firms this week.

Laluces said LTFRB field officers estimated that 100 companies took part in the transport stoppage.

The bus operators, represented by Integrated Metro Bus Operators Association president Claire de la Fuente, denied they were on strike and said they were merely complying with the new number coding scheme for buses being implemented by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Laluces said LTFRB personnel noted that buses of only 40 transport firms plied their routes Monday.

Based on LTFRB records, there are 140 buses with franchises to ply EDSA.

But the LTFRB chief said they have yet to come out with a final count of bus companies that went on a strike.

Laluces reminded bus operators that based on the Public Service Act, it is “unlawful to refuse or withhold its service when it is reasonably demanded.” He said violators of the law face suspension or cancellation of franchise.

“Well, our penalties range from suspension to outright cancellation of their franchises. Our procedure will be to give them a chance to explain their apparent participation in the so-called strike or tigil pasada (transport stoppage) and they would be heard,” said Laluces.

“There will be hearings that we will conduct in order to determine their participation. So as to the penalties, they can face outright cancellation,” the LTFRB chief added.

The bus operators had threatened to strike last week to protest the number coding scheme. But hours after thousands of passengers were left stranded last Monday, the operators called a press conference to deny they were on strike.

The operators claimed that most of the buses that stayed off the roads were covered by the number coding scheme. They also claimed that the decision to call off the strike came too late and that the information did not reach many operators soon enough.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino rejected the claims of the bus companies.

In an radio interview yesterday over dzRH, LTFRB executive director Dante Atienza said that based on the agency’s monitoring, there had been a substantial decrease in the number of buses that plied their routes last Monday.

• On standby

The MMDA said it would remain on “standby” today – with its buses and trucks ready for quick deployment – despite assurances from bus firms that they would not strike.

“They have already said that they would not be holding another strike. Despite this, however, our buses and our personnel will be on standby, just in case,” said MMDA spokesperson Tina Velasco.

Velasco said the MMDA would be closely monitoring the situation today, the second day of the implementation of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) or the number coding for public utility buses.

Unlike the number coding for private vehicles, there are no “window hours” for PUBs.

Based on the last digit of their license plates, vehicles are not allowed on certain days to travel around Metro Manila from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Except in Makati, a “window period” between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. is allowed.

Velasco said the MMDA welcomed LTFRB’s move to revoke the franchises of bus companies that would be proven to have participated in Monday’s strike.

“It is time to show political will on our part,” she said.

“We can provide the LTFRB with field reports on which buses participated. We can even give them copies of video taken by our close circuit television cameras at the various bus loading bays,” she added.

Velasco said that instead of complaining about the possible loss of profit as a result of the number coding, bus companies should look at its possible benefits.

“Maybe the one day that their buses would not be allowed on the streets could be used for vehicle maintenance, which could prove beneficial for them in the long run,” she said.

Velasco added that out of the 13,000 buses operating in Metro Manila, only 2,000 buses would be covered by the ban on a given day.

“We are still left with 11,000 buses. This is just a start. Maybe the bus companies would realize that their franchises are for public service and convenience and not for profit. They should cooperate first before complaining,” she said.

Velasco also stressed that prior to the implementation of the scheme, there had been consultation meetings between the MMDA and the bus companies.

• 20 percent reduction

Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus said the number coding scheme can reduce the number of buses on EDSA by as much as 20 percent, but that continuous dialogue with operators should be undertaken to make it more acceptable.

“A 20 percent reduction is not necessarily detrimental. It could be beneficial even to the operators,” he told Palace reporters in a briefing.

He said he and other officials discussed the scheme as well as last Monday’s strike with President Aquino yesterday.

He said they have been ordered by Aquino to push ahead with the scheme and “hold further dialog” at the same time with operators.

“He considers this (traffic) as a problem for all of us. It’s not just the bus operators, it’s not just the riding public, it’s all of us together and therefore, we should try to find a common solution together,” De Jesus added.

“It’s not a question of softening and hardening. It’s a question of finding some workable solutions together. That’s the objective of the dialogue. It’s not a contest of wills. It is an honest search for solutions,” De Jesus added.

He also rebuffed the operators for denying that it was a strike they launched on Monday.

“May I quote Shakespeare: A rose by any other name will smell as sweet. So I think whether you call it a strike or not, the effect is there and everybody felt the effect,” the DOTC chief said.

Tolentino, for his part, said it is the LTFRB that is empowered to impose sanction on erring bus firms.

“That’s why LTFRB will be conducting an investigation. Due process would have to be followed and proper procedures would have to be complied with,” he said.

• Gov’t takeover

Lawmakers want tough sanction against bus firms that took part in last Monday’s strike, with Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III even proposing a government takeover of bus operations.

He said operating public utility buses is considered public service and if bus operators cannot get their act together and address the abuses of drivers then the government should take over their operations.

He also lashed out at bus operators for complaining of potential 20 percent income loss from the number coding scheme.

“It is obvious with that statement that everything to them is business. They have forgotten that the transport industry is public service and not just business,” Sotto said.

He said the government, through the MMDA, should start raising funds to buy out the bus firms.

Sotto explained that the government may use existing buses that are in good condition instead of buying new units.

Sotto argued that a government takeover would guarantee fixed salaries for bus drivers. This, he said, would keep them from recklessly taking in passengers just to meet their daily quota.

“If we give them a monthly salary then they would no longer worry about the boundary, there would be no accidents and they will not be reckless,” Sotto said.

Sotto noted that a state control of bus operations has proven to be effective in minimizing traffic jams and reckless driving in other countries.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo also said a government takeover – even on a temporary basis – would prevent bus firms from holding commuters hostage to protest new regulations. He also called “insulting” the operators’ denial that they had launched a strike.

“Now they’re changing their (bus companies) story that they did not stage a strike. Yet since last week they have been threatening to stage a strike. They’re saying they can’t contact their drivers. That’s self-incriminating. It proves they were trying to take back a previous order not to report for work. That’s just an alibi. Do they call their drivers everyday? Of course not,” Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila Development, said.

“These bus companies and their lawyers should not insult the government and the intelligence of the public by saying they did not stage a strike. Maybe it’s also part of their strategy knowing that they have to deal with the LTFRB and they will have hearings,” Castelo said.

He also called for the strict implementation of city ordinances on the removal of bus terminals along EDSA.

Castelo said persistent reports that many top LTFRB and LTO officials were receiving bribes may have contributed to the arrogance of bus companies.

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco demanded tougher sanction against the bus companies, saying their strike not only stranded commuters but also hurt the poor and the economy.

“LTFRB and LTO regulations must be scrutinized. There must be some loopholes that embolden these bus companies to stage strikes that not only harm the riding public especially the poor, but also hurt the economy,” Haresco said.

For Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, provincial buses should be exempted from the number coding scheme to ensure uninterrupted flow of goods and people to and from far-flung areas.

“The MMDA odd-even scheme on provincial buses is anti-promdi, anti-poor. It discriminates the people in the provinces. It should be recalled,” Evardone said.

• Green vehicles

South Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado, chairman of the House committee on transportation, for his part, called for more stringent measures that would require only “green vehicles” to ply the 24-kilometer EDSA.

He said air quality studies done by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2008 showed that EDSA had the dirtiest air among the areas it had surveyed, with 282 micrograms per normal cubic meter of Total Suspended Particulates (TSPs) in the air, or more than 300 percent over the normal tolerable level of 90 micrograms. TSPs serve as a barometer for air pollution.

These pollutants, according to the DENR, come mostly from public utility vehicles such as buses, jeepneys and tricycles.

He said since there are only a few jeepneys and tricycles plying the EDSA route, and most taxicabs are already using the environment-friendlier LPG, public utility buses appear to be the main culprits.

“It is time to save EDSA. I am calling for another EDSA Revolution to transform EDSA from a highway of death to a highway of life, the country’s first green highway,” Mercado said in his privilege speech on Monday. –Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) with Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Reinir Padua, and Mike Frialde