Worse, Hachoso pointed to the flashpoint over the implementation of the bus coding system as suggestive of the government’s “usual ill treatment of the poor, the working people, and relatively smaller businesses such as the small operators. “Instead of prioritizing the mass transport system which most of our fellow Filipinos rely on to reach their destinations, the government has opted to limit the number of public buses on the road while leaving free the more numerous private vehicles, which hog much of the roads with relatively fewer passengers.”
“The so-called strike has given the LTFRB an opportunity to purge our list of franchises,” said LTFRB’s Atienza.
As legitimate bus operators fear cancellation of permits even as their suggestions to lessen Metro Manila’ traffic continually seem to “fall on deaf ears,” their alleged strike has given the government transport agencies an “opening” to air bold suggestions to solve the problem of too many vehicles, which the LTFRB itself has allowed to happen in the first place.
Problem of Road Congestion, Corruption of Transport Agencies
The Metro Manila Commission’s October decision to cover the mass transit public utility buses in the implementation of vehicle number coding system stems from the problem of too many buses and private cars plying the Metro Manila roads especially Edsa. The LTFRB has authorized a total of 12,689 buses to ply Metro Manila routes, of which 8,627 have been “authenticated and verified,” according to House Transportation committee chair Roger G. Mercado. The unauthenticated are either part of the colorum (buses with no franchise), or there are even more that are not yet counted, the LTO, MMDA and LTFRB admitted.
A World Bank study said EDSA can accommodate only around 1,600 buses. In bringing the public utility buses under the coding system, 20-percent of all buses currently plying Metro Manila would be forced out per day.
But according to bus operators, had they been properly consulted, they would have said that the seeming problem of too many buses is a direct result of “colorum,” which in turn is a result of corruption in the government. “They (colorum) could not have continued to ply our roads if there were enforcers who cannot be bought,” admitted Alberto Suansing, former LTFRB chief.
Bus operators such as Ebrahim Masongsong of St. Rose Transit said they have their own monitoring of colorum buses, which they report to authorities. “But it always seems to fall on deaf ears.”
Although the LTFRB has declared a moratorium in granting new franchises, the agency has continued to give it “left and right” since 2003, resulting today to a bus overload despite the supposedly stringent conditions such as route monitoring.
Government agencies managing transportation and Rep. Roger Mercado have at some point described bus operators as “abusive,” yet as it turned out, Mercado and other congressmen in the transport committee had to admit that “It doesn’t speak well of our agencies and of the House of Representatives also, that we react only when there are cases like the alleged strike.”
It doesn’t speak well of the government agencies such as the LTFRB, LTO, MMDA and DOTC that despite daily apprehensions of colorum buses, they still can’t say up to now how many buses are colorum, said Mercado. Inventories are always never completed, it seemed. On top of that, no agency could seem to answer why despite the DOTC’s ordered bus rationalization, their numbers have increased. The MMDA cannot also provide data on the ratio of public utility vehicles to private, although they said they have that.
“In the problem of too many vehicles, too many buses, too many colorum buses, the government agencies and corrupt enforcers have huge accountability,” said George San Mateo.
These days “bold suggestions” are being thrown the way of DOTC, LTFRB, LTO and MMDA to once and for all resolve the problem of vehicle overcrowding and traffic. Some congressmen seemed to be tinkering with proposed legislation to hand LTFRB the right to cancel franchises prematurely, to scrap all franchises and start from zero. If they succeed, the small bus operators may face a worse problem than bus coding and “protected colorum.”
Dante Lantin, DOTC secretary and former LTFRB chief, said some of the DOTC’s plans include bringing down the number of Metro Manila Bus operators from the present 100-plus to as few as two to three per route. They also plan to reduce routes from the present 61 to less than 34. This in effect may open public utility buses to near monopoly private operations, edging out the more numerous small bus operators so the government job of regulation can be “easier.” (Bulatlat.com)
