Campaign aims to get rid of LTFRB corruption

THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has launched reforms that will include breaking sources of money-making activities such as the applications for franchise and the sealing or resealing of taxi meters.

LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra announced the Board would lift the moratorium on the issuance of new franchises for public utility vehicles within the year primarily to respond to the growing need for public transportation all over the country.

The issuance of franchise has allegedly been made a money-making activity in the Board. Some operators reportedly pay any amount just to get a franchise.

Delgra said a franchise is a privilege given to an operator, who should only pay an administrative fee at P510. In exchange, the operator must give good service (protect lives and limbs) to the riding public.

LTFRB Memorandum Circular no. 2003-02 mandated the “Nationwide moratorium on the acceptance of new applications and petitions for the issuance of a certificate of public convenience except trucks-for-hire service.”

“There is a clear need to lift the moratorium, especially in major cities in the country, so we will look into that,” Delgra said.

The ongoing audit of all LTFRB regional offices in view of President Duterte’s order to get rid of corruption in government regulatory offices, specifically the LTFRB and the Land Transportation Office, found out that most of the corruption issues hurled against the agency were related to franchising.

Delgra said he has heard of reports and complaints from public utility vehicle operators about “franchise fees” amounting to as high asP200,000.

“We hear stories, some of which I double-checked only to find out that there was indeed an attempt to corrupt but no money changed hands,” he said.

Lawyer Aileen Lizada-Lopez, a member of the Board, also pointed to the sealing and resealing of taxi meters as another source of corruption. Lopez said an operator pays P100 to P150 as bribe to personnel in the LTFRB conducting sealing and resealing of taxi meters.

LTFRB is suspending the sealing and resealing until further notice.

Sealing and resealing of taxi meters are done twice a year to determine if a meter is tampered or not.

Lopez said they are conducting investigations and meeting with the stakeholders because they want to get to the bottom of the corruption issues at the LTFRB. There are allegations that the corruption issue starts and ends with the office of the regional director which is why they are going around to find out if this is true.

“Sometimes they say these franchise transactions pass through the law offices so we don’t know if the payment they are referring to is already a packaged to include the legal fees for the lawyers,” he said.

Delgra said a moratorium in the franchise of public vehicles has been going on for more than 10 years now so if the franchise data at the Central Office does not coincide with the regions, then that is already questionable. However, there are exceptions to the moratorium, including the school bus, trucks for hire and environment-friendly vehicles.

“Before we go to the regional offices, we already have the data as to how many franchises have been issued by the regions so if it’s more than that, it raises irregularity,” said Lopez, who is tasked to address the issue on the slow processing of documents and permits

Delgra said they have to recognize the problem of corruption first before they are able to solve it. He admitted that part of that problem is the slow processing time at the LTFRB which could mean “inefficiency in government service or intentionally sitting on the paper to wait for bribe.”

“We don’t accept, we are not accepting, and I am appealing to you, do not also offer. That is prohibited under Republic Act No. 3019. We are already paid,” Delgra said. (pna)