ILOILO City – A board member of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) questioned the P2 jeepney fare increase in this city and Iloilo province. It was excessive, according to Atty. Aileen Lizada. The order approving the fare hike also did not have her signature, she added.
Lizada made these assertions in a complaint she filed against the staff of LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra III before the Office of the Ombudsman last week. She claimed the LTFRB order approving the fare increase was surreptitiously taken out of her office.
The fare hike took effect on Aug. 30 – P8.50 for regular passengers and P6.80 for senior citizens, students and persons with disabilities.
Charged with violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees were Delgra’s chief of staff Manolo Labor and staff members Nikki Rose Gener and Martin Angelo Afante.
In her 31-page complaint, Lizada stated that the P2 fare hike was “in excess of the fare hike as supported by the NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) and the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry).”
NEDA’s recommended fare hike was only P1.50, according to Lizada, while DTI pushed for a “lower or minimal fare adjustment.”
Transport groups that petitioned for a fare increase cited the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law’s additional excise tax on petroleum products, basic commodities and vehicle spare parts. They actually asked for a P5.50 hike but LTFRB Region 6 recommended only P2.50 to its central office.
Here’s another beef in Lizada’s complaint: the LTFRB order on the fare increase was supposedly an en banc decision (must be signed by all members of the Board).
According to Lizada, she did not sign it, thus the order may be deemed irregular.
Those who signed the order were Delgra as chairman, Board member Engr. Ronaldo Corpus and Executive Director Atty. Samuel Jardin.
When she made checks, according to Lizada, she learned that the order’s release was Labor’s doing so she ordered him to return the order for proper revision, but he refused.
“His refusal to comply with the lawful order effectively prevented me from fulfilling my function as a duly appointed member of the Board of LTFRB,” Lizada said.
She further averred that it was Gener who took out a copy of the order after it had already been endorsed to her office.
Afante, meanwhile, assisted to send the order to the Docket Section of the LTFRB, added Lizada.
“The prudent thing would have been for Ms. Gener to check with me first before taking out the draft order from my office for routing. After all, the draft order was in my office precisely for review and I was at the LTFRB building at that time,” according to Lizada.
She chided Delgra’s staff for violating LTFRB procedures.
Lizada also warned that although the fare hike is confined only in Region 6, “it basically triggers a domino effect in the whole matrix of economic development in the Visayas.” (With reports from Rappler and Manila Bulletin)
