BY MARY JOY CAVAÑAS
ILOILO City – The public is warned against riding colorum vehicles or illegally operating public utility vehicles (PUVs) this holiday season to avoid accidents.
Riza Otayde, public information officer of Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region 6, said they began deploying enforcers on Dec. 16 to conduct inspections and spot these colorum vehicles.
As defined by the Department of Transportation in Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01, colorum vehicles operate as PUVs without the proper authorization from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Colorum vehicles also refer to PUVs that operate outside of their routes without prior permit from the Board or outside the exceptions provided under existing memorandum circulars, and those that operate differently from its authorized denomination.
Earlier, LTO Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza III ordered its personnel to go after colorum vehicles and picky cab drivers especially this holiday season.
“Because of the high number of passengers during Christmas time, it’s also the season when numerous unauthorized public utility vehicles emerge, and I ordered that this should be closely monitored,” Mendoza said.
Regulators from LTO and LTFRB consider colorum vehicles unsafe. For one, these vehicles did not undergo the necessary road-worthiness tests. (With a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)/PN
