South-bound bus operators air gripes

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

THE operators of the south-bound small buses questioned Tuesday the actuations of the official of La Carlota City (LCC) Express bus group, a splinter of SDL bus lines, in relation to the group’s conduct in the Libertad pick up station and towards SDL.

In a press conference Tuesday, Vito Gahaton, operator of RoadStar bus lines and the group’s spokesperson, said despite the different pick up area assigned to every south-bound route in the Mabini street by the office of Vice Mayor for purposes of order and safety, the LCC units reportedly insist in parking wherever they want to.

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“The drivers of LCC buses will not do this without the knowledge and command from their bus president, SP04 Reynaldo Severino, a regular police assigned in La Carlota city police office,” Gahaton said.

Southbound Transport Operators told members of the media in a press conference Tuesday that they are the ones suffering due to political pressure on the Daalco Terminal issue. (Mymy Alagaban)

“The LCC units park within the DAALCO private lot whole day, making it practically their own parking lot when it is not allowed, and the LCC buses don’t proceed anymore to Sambok terminal in Lopez Jaena before going to Libertad to pick up passengers,” Gahaton added.

Gahaton said last week there were several instances when LCC and SDL drivers and dispatchers were engaged in heated arguments and near fist-fights because LCC buses allegedly are parked whenever they just want, and they even grabbed the position of SDL and RoadStar buses.

He said this is abusive, defiance of city order, and unfair to all south-bound small buses that diligently respect and follow city rules.

Gahaton and his fellow operators demand a probe be carried out on Severino’s conduct and activities, notwithstanding the fact that “he cannot be a regular police officer and at the same time an official or business organization like LCC; this is a conflict of interest and violative of the Code of Ethics of the government workers.”

Noreen Diaz, SDL operator backed Gahaton saying “Certainly, we will bring this issue and Severino’s ethical conduct to the higher authorities.”

Meanwhile, Nora Cajurao, spokesperson of the SDL, told Sun.Star during the press conference that La Carlota Mayor Juliet Ferrer has yet to explain to their member-operators and drivers and the people of La Carlota City why she continues to tolerate the entry of more than 70 units of Ceres aircon and bulilit buses in La Carlota-Bacolod vice versa route when she allegedly told them in August that she would allow only 9 aircon buses of Ceres.

Cajurao also slammed Mayor Ferrer on why she keeps mum on the continued fare undercharging of Ceres when such move is clearly anti-small buses.
“We have petitioned her for dialogues, but she keeps on evading us. What is she afraid of us when our demands are only two simple items - level the fare in La Carlota-Bacolod vice versa to P30 and limit the Ceres buses in said route to only nine aircons as she promised us,” Cajurao said.

“Why can’t she not be frank to us? If she wants us eliminated, she should tell so we can prepare for a long battle; if she wants us to grow like all other small and micro entrepreneurs, then by all means she should support us because that is the obligation of the local government,” Cajurao said.