BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – With Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 2014-01, the regional offices of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) are girding for tougher operations against illegally operating public utility vehicles (PUVs).
JAO imposes higher fines against colorum or franchise-less PUVs, said LTO regional director Dennis Singzon over radio program “Reklamo Publiko” yesterday.
For colorum buses, the previous fine was only P6,000 per unit. Under the JAO, it is now P1 million – an average cost of one bus unit.
Previously, whenever a colorum vehicle was apprehended, the operator just paid the fine and would resume operating again.
“This became a routine, and this is what the JAO intends to combat…If you are operating legally, there is no need to fear the JAO,” said Singzon.
Since JAO’s implementation in June this year, LTO Region 6 has already apprehended two colorum buses in Kalibo, Aklan and Pontevedra, Capiz, and over 20 utility vehicles and vans.
Under the JAO, colorum bus operators are fined P1 million; trucks and van operators, P200,000; sedan operators, P120,000; jeepney owners, P50,000; and motorcycle operators, P6,000.
Though the government is seen to rake in money from colorum fines, Singzon said the payment for fines would not come easily.
He said the apprehended colorum operator has to be adjudicated first and will be given a chance to refute the charge.
“No penalty will be implemented unless the offender would like to pay,” clarified Singzon.
The JAO also imposes corresponding fines and penalties for other PUV-related violations to include:
- refusal to convey passengers to their destinations
- overcharging
- employing reckless, insolent, discourteous or arrogant drivers
- using PUVs with defective parts
- trip-cutting, and
- using tampered taxi meters, among others./PN
