WHEN it comes to public service, the regulatory agencies, like the Land Transportation and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) must consider first the convenience and safety of the riding public.
I say this as a premise because changes had been made by the Duterte administration in these notorious agencies but the Jurassic management remains. There is no perceptible effort on the new managers to alter the graft-prone and lousy system and in fact they have displayed their stubborn aversion to change.
I am beginning to suspect they are oblivious to their mandate and idly expect a miracle will happen for the problem to cure itself.
Forget about the dullards in the Aquino administration. So absorbed were they in fleecing government coffers they conjured all strategies how to change the system to make possible their malfeasance. There was nothing wrong with the former license plates which even had the statue of Rizal and “Philippines” emblazoned from side to side, so they change specs and came out with new design along with a screw that snaps on tightening. That’s how the pre-procurement publicity echoed. Looked smart. It turned out later the plates were so thin, one can easily snatch it off no sweat. Two years and one month ago, I bought a car which up to now LTO have yet to issue a license plate. The public have been screwed many time over by these agencies.
Duterte’s administration is now one year older, but some appointees are not up to their job and so we are stuck with the same problem. If they think the President is amused, better think it over.
A classic example is the failure of the transport regulatory agencies to decide on whether or not franchises should be issued to Uber and Grab operators. I had it from various sources, including LTFRB, LTO and Uber and Grab operators that LTFRB entertained applications for franchise and that in the meantime allowed applicants to operate anyway. Last week the two agencies threatened to sanction Grab and Uber from operating without franchise for what they claim is for “sake of safety” of the riding public.
I do not know where these officials are coming from on the issue of safety. And why the threat when it was their fault to sleep on their job?
Many moons ago, we probinsyano, (like President Duterte), have no other options but to take a taxi to take us to our destinations in Metro Manila. There are zillions of stories told about how we hoi polloi are cheated by taxi drivers. Those who read this column, including those from Metro Manila, have their own episodes of how taxi drivers ride roughshod over us helpless "taga bundok." We are so helpless being told: "car ban ko na po," "grabe trapik dyan," "flat rate na lang po" and all those hogwash of excuses. This aside from literally given the ran around Metro Manila if they notice you look "ignorante" and the prospect of being robbed or rape. Never mind the haggling.
What convenience and safety do LTFRB and LTO are talking about? Now and then I take a taxi. Most often it is rundown, windows cannot be rolled up or down, as a probinsyano I can withstand the stink and the cigarette smell but taxis are notoriously smelling like a public latrine. Ninety five percent of the taxis I rode on either have defective shock absorber or none at all. Higher percentage of taxis are figured in accidents for I still have to see a taxi unit without dints or scratches suggesting there is a reckless driver behind the wheel.
With Grab and Uber, you have a well-maintained vehicle and a comparatively better-dressed driver. For each ride I get important data registered on my phone, like plate number, mobile phone number, name of driver and mind you the amount you have to pay for the ride regardless of the traffic situation.
I have to write these enumerations to help LTFRB and LTO bosses in case they don’t know what’s happening on the ground and what we, the riding public they are supposed to look after, had been suffering all these years and to guide them what to do, damn it! If it needs legislation to for these alternative modes of public transport to happen then draft one and propose it to your cabinet secretary. I do not know how they did it in other countries which have these services but what am saying is, if it can be done in so many countries worldwide then why cannot it be done in the Philippines?
Is it because obtaining license to operate Uber or Grab in those parts is uncomplicated and ours is so circuitous it is designed to mulct? I hate to ask this question especially when we all knew the answer.
