Friday, January 25, 2008 DOT helpless vs erring taxi drivers By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Department of Tourism (DOT)-Southern Mindanao, like any other government agency, cannot act upon the reports on erring taxi drivers at the airport without a complaint.
DOT-Southern Mindanao Director Sonia Garcia said airport taxis are DOT accredited.
Reports reaching Sun.Star Davao showed that some taxi drivers were able to get hold of fake DOT accreditation stickers.
The DOT accreditation sticker is exclusively distributed by the DOT after taxi operators have proven that their taxi units and drivers are competent enough to be of service to foreign and local guests.
Another complaint is that there are some taxi drivers who would bargain for a price and not use the meter as mandated by law.
But Garcia said Wednesday that they have not received any formal complaint about it. "We need a complaint," Garcia said.
Garcia also said it is actually quite easy to lodge a complaint or even trace back the taxi unit that is being complained about.
The protocol at the airport, according to her, is that the security guard at the arrival area would be writing down the name of the passenger and the taxi unit that was taken.
"All they have to do is to call the airport security and ask for the taxi unit that they were in," Garcia said.
Garcia added that the arrangement with the airport is that all taxi units that would be allowed to cater to the airport passengers are DOT accredited, or bearing the DOT accreditation sticker.
"And only if we run out of DOT accredited taxis at the airport, that is the only time when the non accredited taxis are allowed to enter and get passengers," Garcia said.
