ILOILO City – “Pasensya gid.” Very sorry.
Councilor Romel Duron, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s (SP) Committee on Transportation, publicly apologized for the inconvenience caused by the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP) Ordinance.
Duron sponsored the LPTRP that prohibited provincial jeepneys from bringing passengers to the city.
“If needed, I will sponsor to repeal that ordinance for the good of the city and the province,” said Duron during the inaugural session of the 11th SP yesterday.
Due to the provincial jeepney ban, many drivers, particularly from the adjacent towns of Pavia, Leganes and Oton with already very short routes going to the city, were economically displaced.
Also, passengers from Iloilo province and those from Aklan, Capiz and Antique were forced to take two or three rides and thus spend more on fare so they could enter Iloilo City.
“Pasensya gid sa naapektuhan and I admit my mistake,” said Duron.
The LPTRP was implemented beginning June 12. The first few days were very challenging for passengers. There were not enough city loop jeepneys that would transport them to the city from the transport terminals where provincial jeepneys unloaded them.
Duron acknowledged that the LPTRP burdened passengers such as students, employees and even farmers intending to deliver their produce to the Iloilo Terminal Market.
He also agreed that the LPTRP further exacerbated the suffering of the public already burdened by rising fuel prices.
But while Duron apologized for the inconvenience, he insisted that the LPTRP was “imposed upon us by imperial Manila.”
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) required local government units to have LPTRPs; provincial jeepneys were banned from entering the city to meet the guidelines set, said Duron.
The city councilor revealed that two previous proposed LPTRPs submitted to the DOTr allowed jeepneys from Pavia, Leganes and Oton to enter the city; the department, however, rejected them.
“But just to comply with the LPTRP, and because there are so many colorum (franchise-less) vehicles, especially tricycles, I was thinking we have to submit our own LPTRP to solve the colorum problem,” said Duron.
The public criticism of the LPTRP forced Mayor Jerry Treñas to issued Executive Order No. 001-2022 on July 1 temporarily suspending the ordinance for 45 days effective July 8.
He ordered a seven-day transition period (July 1 to 7) leading to the LPTRP suspension and tasked the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) to lead the transition. It must coordinate with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and transport cooperatives plying the routes in Iloilo City, as well as with the transport associations of the “first towns” (Pavia, Leganes and Oton).
Jeepney drivers and operators welcomed Treñas’ suspension order.
“Gray areas” of the LPTRP needed fine-tuning, according to Raymundo Parcon, president of the Western Visayas Transport Cooperative.
“Basi pa man lang sa 45 days matapos na ang mga problema. Pag-implement sang June 12 may mga problema. Damu reklamo. Isa kita sa nagareklamo sa mga ruta nga ginpang-utod,” said Parcon./PN
