Friday, July 16, 2004 Council wants franchising devolved to city By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE City Council is open to the possibility for the city to have the authority to issue franchises to public utility vehicles instead of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
Councilor Jesus Zozobrado will convene on Monday the council committee on energy and transportation, which he chairs, to discuss possibilities of coming up with a proposal to convince the national government to devolve the function of issuing franchises to public utility vehicles operating in Davao City to the city's local government unit.
"We'll get it from the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)," Zozobrado said.
Zozobrado said that devolving the function of issuing franchise to public vehicles operating in the city will give the city government access to regulate fare rates.
Dabawenyos are complaining of the implementation of fare rate increase recently.
The city council even passed a resolution calling LTFRB in the region to conduct a public hearing on the fare rate on the ground that the living standard of Davao City is different from Luzon.
The public hearing will be held today at the city council building session hall.
Zozobrado said if the function to issue franchise to public utility vehicles operating within Davao City will be devolved, the city government will have the power to address issues concerning fare rates.
Besides Zozobrado said the city government can earn substantial amount from the proposal, which could be used to implement projects.
According to Zozobrado his office is now on the process of consolidating necessary data to which he could present to his committee on Monday.
Initially, LTFRB records earlier showed there are around 6,000 passenger jeepneys operating in Davao City.
Zozobrado's proposal, however, include taxi and other public utility vehicles making a living in the streets of Davao City of whose franchise issued by LTFRB.
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