BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The campaign of the Land Transportation Office against public utility vehicles operating without franchises and provisional authority in Bacolod City resulted in multi-farious (sic) adverse consequence, General Alliance of Workers Association secretary general Wennie Sancho said yesterday.
Sancho said this had brought inconvenience to the riding public, particularly the workers.
The drivers and small operators were deprived of their means of livelihood. Production and business operations will grind to a halt if transportation is paralyzed, he said.
Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran earlier said that the suspension of the Land Transportation Office campaign against public utility vehicles without franchises and provisional authority for two weeks followed the intercession of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, who is currently in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, and was an offshoot of a dialog held Monday at the Bacolod City Government Center, attended by members and officials of various transport groups and LTO representatives.
“Public transportation is necessary to our daily living and economic survival. It is unfortunate that our local public servants failed to mitigate the problematic situation because they were not only ill- prepared but they lacked the wisdom to provide concrete measures because only a few of them, if any, are riding in jeepneys as commuters since they have their own private vehicles,” Sancho said.
For them to say “they had no hand in this, as this is a national law” is to evade the issue. Or to say “that it is not in the hands of the city government anymore if their franchises are not extended,” is a form of defense mechanism. But they cannot escape the public perception that like Pontius Pilate, they are washing their hands to evade accountability for their incompetence and for pretending to be familiar with the problems of the drivers and the riding public, he said.
What were the measures they have taken to provide stranded commuters a ride or what financial assistance have they given to the drivers who have lost their income? He asked.
They are anticipating that there will be grandstanding in the next Sanggunian hearing. But like all public hearings, this will end limply without concrete results, Sancho said.
SP resolutions that will be passed are merely symbolic gestures that are empty of serious content, if only to appease the transport sector for what would be nice to accomplish someday under a cooperative, he added.
There are currently 173 modernized jeepney operating in Bacolod City which were seen plying the streets of the city as early as the election campaign period.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board approved a total of 1,099 units for Bacolod.*
