LTFRB to investigate bus strike participants

BUS firms who participated in Monday’s protest strike that left thousand of commuters stranded will be made to answer before the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) as to why their licenses should not be revoked.

The LTFRB said that they are now readying to file the notices to bus operators who participated in the transport strike.

Based on figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP), at least 8,500 passengers in Metro Manila were stranded because of the strike. These included 5,000 in Quezon City, 2,000 in eastern Metro Manila and 1,500 in the cities of Pasay, Parañaque and Muntinlupa.

The bus strike also forced the Department of Education to suspend classes in Quezon City, San Juan City and Pasig City.

LTFRB Chairman Nelson Laluces said that they are now coordinating with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in determining the bus firms that joined the strike.

“We will send them notices to explain their action. They will be given due process and a hearing,” Laluces said in Filipino.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino over the weekend, warned bus operators who planned to take part in the strike that they may lose their franchises.

As early as 3 a.m. on Monday, Tolentino said that MMDA vehicles were dispatched along the major thoroughfares to provide free rides to the public, which might be affected by the strike.

Around 81 MMDA vehicles were dispatched along Commonwealth Avenue, EDSA and Roxas Boulevard to ferry passengers for free.

Other government agencies such as the PNP, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Local Government, and several local governments also provided their buses for free rides under “Oplan Libreng Sakay.”

Tolentino also said the strike failed to paralyze transportation in Metro Manila, as there are still bus companies, which did not join the action and continue to ply their routes.

No bus strike

Bus operators, on the other hand, denied that they staged a transport strike on Monday. According to lawyer Grace Aducol, spokesman of the affected bus operators, what the commuters experienced is the real effect of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), which only shows that Tolentino failed to study carefully the effect of the program before he implemented it.

“There was no strike . . . it is the result of the number coding scheme and the MMDA was successful in reducing the number of buses,” she explained.

At the same time public utility bus operators are appealing to Tolentino to reconsider its decision to implement the UVVRP for buses and give the affected parties a chance to give their side to be able to come up with a more effective program that would effectively ease traffic congestion.

Tolentino,  however,  stressed that the MMDA is only enforcing MMDA Resolution 10 to 16 reimplementing UVVRP on city and provincial buses.

“This resolution is approved for implementation by the Metro Manila Council. I was simply directed by the mayors to enforce this scheme,” Tolentino said, adding that bus operators were properly consulted and were given enough time to adjust to the traffic program.

He claimed that they are now in the process of pinpointing buses that did not operate for the day, which are not part of Monday’s number coding.

Tolentino said bus firms that participated in the strike should be sanctioned by the LTFRB for violation of their certificate of public conveyance.

“The LTFRB who is task to give franchise and has also the power to revoke will be the one to make its move against bus operators who refused to honor the old law which was ratified by the Metropolitan Manila Council, the legislative arm of MMDA,” Tolentino stressed.

In Batasan, congressmen are urging the LTFRB to cancel the licenses of bus operators who participated in the strike.

Rep. Tobias Tiangco of the Lone District of Navotas noted that bus operators should have not resorted to such measures because they were provided bus franchises to be of service to the riding public.

Rep. Winston Castelo of the Second District of Quezon City agreed with Tiangco.

“I will work for the cancellation of their bus franchises. There are means to address or seek redress for their grievances. The commuters should not suffer,” Castelo pointed out. –Sammy Martin Reporter and Francis Earl A. Cueto, Correspondent with reports from Jefferson Antiporda, William B. Depasupil, Maria Nikka U. Garriga, and Llanesca T. Panti