The “word war” between LTRFB chairman Martin Delgra and outgoing LTFRB board member lawyer Aileen Lizada had shifted to the Senate on Tuesday where they traded barbs over the falsification of the newly-opened Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.
In the public hearing on the PITX issue conducted by the Senate public services committee chaired by Senator Grace Poe, Lizada divulged that Delgra ordered her to get the third and last page of the first memorandum circular 2018-022.
The first memo circular, which contained Lizada’s signature, provides that all buses should have their terminal at PITX, the country’s first landport.
To bolster her assertions, Lizada presented to the Senate panel a copy of the memorandum sent to the UP Law Center and the Philippine Star for publication during the hearing.
She said her initials on the document were not there.
But Delgra strongly denied the allegations hurled against him by Lizada, who was transferred to the Civil Service Commission.
The revised memo mandates the exemption of some buses from using the landport along Roxas Boulevard in Baclaran.
In the same hearing, Poe also questioned the failure of LTRFB to issue a fare matrix for provincial buses coming from the south which uses PITX.
It was reported that several passengers had complained that there was no change in the amount of fare despite a reduction in the distance.
The buses they were riding no longer brought them to their destinations either in Lawton, Manila or Edsa.
Lizada also questioned the exemption given by LTRFB to some bus companies to have their terminal at the newly-opened PITX.
The DOTR said 159 buses were given exemption, but this was countered by Poe who said 359 provincial buses were instead exempted from ending their routes at the newly-opened Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.
Because of this, provincial bus operators complained they failed to get passengers who opted to ride buses going directly to Lawton or Edsa.
“There was absolutely no meeting regarding Department Order 2018-025. It would not be fair to us to allege that there was consultation,” said lawyer Omar Mayo of the United Cavite Provincial Bus Operators.
They said the DOTR did not conduct a public hearing before implementing the order.
PITX concessionaires have also disadvantaged only 20 percent of the expected influx of passengers go to PITX.
Poe exhorted LRTFB to come out with a clear policy on bus exemption aside from holding a dialogue with all stakehokders before implementation of policies.
The PITX is the first integrated and multi-modal terminal in the southwestern part of Metro Manila, serving as a transfer point among provincial buses from Cavite, Batangas, and in-city modes of transportation.
The DOTR has noted that the terminal would reduce the number of buses traversing EDSA-Taft, Pasay and Roxas Boulevard, which will result in easing traffic in the metro.
DOTR Undersecretary Mark de Leon earlier pronounced that buses should be required to use the PITX.