DAVAO City vice mayor Bernard Al-ag will file a resolution urging the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to review all franchises issued to all public utility vehicles (PUVs) operators, after receiving various complaints.
Al-ag made special mention of the Utility Vehicle (UV) Express vans during his privilege speech during the city council session Tuesday, April 30.
This is the vice mayor’s response after Presidential son Paolo Duterte posted on Facebook regarding the over speeding of UV Express vans.
Al-ag is urging LTFRB to review operations of UV Express vans. While he also urged LTO to conduct random drug testing and seminars on responsible driving for all PUV drivers.
“Recently, some of our residents came to me, to express their concerns regarding the rising vehicular accidents, especially those PUVs like UV Express... traveling to, around and from Davao City,” Al-ag said in his privilege speech.
He recalled how many accidents these vans got involved, which resulted to its suspension in 2017.
“Few days ago, naka-witness ko og vehicular accident sa may Diversion Road nga lata kaayo ang van,” Al-ag said.
Despite the city being strict on speed limit rules, which is regulated to maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour, there are still drivers who over speed.
“They may not be caught all the time, but they certainly put the lives of their passengers in danger, as well as other drivers and passengers of other vehicles and the pederstrians,” Al-ag said.
He also get reports that some drivers are under the influence of illegal drugs.
Al-ag said the council will release the resolution this week.
He said LTFRB and Land Transportation Office (LTO) will decide when they will conduct their review and investigation.
Paolo Duterte ranted on Facebook Monday evening, April 29, on speeding UV Express vans.
The former vice mayor said, “UV Express palihug lang... Mga operator disiplinaha inyong mga driver!!! Ihulog ko na inyong mga unit sa Davao river! (I’m asking all UV operators to discipline your drivers! If you don’t, I’ll throw your units in to Davao River!).”
“Mura ra ba ug mga taga Davao ang mga yawa... Pila na kapamilya ang gipamatay ana nila! (As if these drivers are from Davao. Many families lost their loved ones because of some of them),” Duterte added in the comment section of his post.
He then tagged officials from LTFRB, LTO, and and even Al-ag to address the issue.