Amid fears of a school bus shortage, regulatory officials came under fire for their alleged failure to stop corruption at the Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.
Road to East Avenue in Quezon City on Thursday to ask transport officials to
suspend the implementation of a law phasing out vehicles that are 15 years
old or more. Manny Palmero
This cropped up as several groups on Thursday denounced LTO chief Alfonso Tan Jr. and LTFRB Chairman Winston Gines and sought their ouster.
The groups also took the LTO to task for the corruption involving motor vehicle emission testing.
They also assailed Gines for his apparent anti-transport group and anti-poor stance.
A multi-sector press conference organized by the Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines in Quezon City, transportation leaders demanded immediate action on the transport industry’s problems.
CCAAP chairman Dr. Leo Olarte said “we cannot clean the air that we all breathe because of graft and corruption at the LTO specifically in the rampant “no show or non appearance motor vehicle emission testing process.”
“We are calling out patriotic citizens to join us in this action against corruption. Let us all stand up for our right to breathe clean air,” he said.
Olarte said that his group would be organizing a national “Welga ng Bayan Laban sa Corruption” later this month.
“The Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines will initiate the holding of a national Welga ng Bayan Laban sa Corruption by the end of this month. This will be participated by various multi sector organizations including all our member transport groups,” he declared.
School bus operators joined the protest and denounced LTFRB’s plan to phase out old school buses.
At least 200 buses paraded along Quezon City Memorial Circle to the LTFRB on East Avenue. Operators raised fear of a shortage of school buses in June when classes begin.
They asked LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez to give them a reprieve to be able to purchase brand-new units.
Ginez, in a memorandum, directed the bus operators to buy brand-new units or use three to five-year-old service vehicles.
He said a service unit must have complete markings, medical kits, stop and go signs and early warning devices. A violator will be fined P200,000 for operating out-of-line.
There are about 30,000 school buses transporting 600,000 students to be phased out once the LTFRB implements its order in June.
Celso de la Paz, National Alliance of School Service Association of the Philippines president, said they will not remove their old school buses.
Ginez said they are not inclined to suspend the policy but added the board composed of Ronaldo Corpus and Ariel Inton Jr. have given the operators ample time to comply.
CCAAP president Herminio Buerano Jr. said his group offered to donate to LTO a special software called Image Comparison Engine (ICE), proven to detect and catch the fraudulent “no show or non-appearance” motor vehicle emission testing rampantly being propagated in LTO emission testing centers nationwide.
On the intercession of DOTC secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, they offered and tested at LTO a special software called Image Comparison Engine that can effectively put the emission testing scam to a full stop.
However, he said Tan seems bent on not using it. “We were given the runaround at LTO until all our efforts to put a stop to this corrupt and illegal non-appearance emission scam through the use of our special software ICE just come to a halt. All these because LTO chief Tan failed to act on our initiative, “ noted Buerano.
Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines(FEDJODAP) president Zeny Maranan and Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO) national president Efren de Luna jointly asked Tan to quit his post for his failure to address alleged corruption in the motor vehicle emission testing industry.
“The corrupt practice of no-show or non-appearance at motor vehicle emission testing is rampant at the LTO,” said Maranan.
She said that her group’s members pay P500 each to obtain a favorable emission test results and be able to register at the LTO even without having their vehicle brought to and tested at LTO emission centers.
On top of the P500 bribe for the LTO emission test, drivers are made to pay P200 each to grease the palm of some Local Government Units (LGU) Anti Smoke Belching Units (ASBU) and LTO deputized ASBUs so they won’t’ be arrested, Maranan said.