BACOLOD City – Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board Region 6 (LTFRB-6) director Richard Osmeña warned the management of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) not to suspend its transport service despite its management crisis.
“If VTI will paralyze their trips, this may result to franchise cancellation – which means a bigger problem for the company,” said Osmeña.
Yesterday, several drivers of VTI-operated Ceres buses attempted to halt their trips at the Bacolod South and North Terminals.
Osmeña urged the Negros-based bus firm to resolve its management problem immediately so as not to inconvenience commuters.
“I spoke to the management not to paralyze their bus trips and just iron out their family dispute. The riding public will suffer,” he said.
The feud came into the open when Leo Rey’s elder brother Roy Yanson replaced him as president of several bus companies that their family owned: Vallacar Transit, Inc.; Bachelor Express, Inc.; Rural Transit Mindanao, Inc.; Sugbo Transit Express, Inc.; and Mindanao Star Business Transit, Inc.
The bus companies operate some 4,800 buses in total and employ around 18,000 workers nationwide.
Thursday last week, officials of the 7,500-strong Mindanao Alliance of Land Transport (MALTU) and General Workers’ Union, along with the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU) Vallacar Transit Chapter, gathered in this city.
“We vehemently condemn the unprecedented move of the management team. We are the most vulnerable and most to be affected,” the labor union said in a manifesto, referring to the ouster of Leo Rey.
Meanwhile, the PACIWU and its Vallacar Transit Chapter, which represents the employees of VTI in Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas, also expressed support to Leo Rey and the family matriarch, Olivia Yanson.
Led by PACIWU national president Hernane Braza and chapter president Franny Santarin, they said the abrupt takeover of the management would create tension amid confusion, and disturbance of industrial peace.
“The union is now appealing to the board of directors to settle this serious concern among yourselves before the members can feel the hopelessness of working in an environment of confusion,” they added./PN
