THE protectors of colorum public utility vehicles (PUVs) are reportedly employees of the City of Talisay Traffic Operations and Development Authority (CT-Toda), traffic officers from other local government units and a national agency official in Cebu.
This information led CT-Toda chief Jonathan Tumulak to urge anyone who has knowledge on who the traitors are to approach him.
Tumulak said the Talisay City Government would dismiss the personnel if evidence could prove that they are the rats inside CT-Toda informing the drivers operating without franchises about the traffic agency’s operations.
Contacts
Last week, CT-Toda apprehended several colorum PUV drivers, and one of them confided to Tumulak that they can operate without fear of being caught as they have contacts within CT-Toda and other government agencies, including the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7.
“They claimed that the LTFRB 7 couldn’t catch them because someone from the agency would inform them about the agency’s operations against colorum vehicles,” Tumulak said in Cebuano.
The traffic czar has reported the matter to LTFRB 7 Director Eduardo Montealto Jr.
Meeting
Tumulak and Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr. met with the colorum PUV drivers last week; they urged them to stop their operations, or else they would be apprehended.
Gullas ordered the meeting with Tumulak and the colorum PUV drivers after he received a letter from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which instructed the mayor to immediately address complaints from his constituents on the presence of illegal public land transport, particularly at the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR).
Cooperative
Montealto was also invited by Gullas to provide them with legal advice on solving the problem.
During the meeting, Montealto urged colorum PUV operators to join or form a cooperative, so that they can apply for a franchise at the LTFRB 7.
However, Montealto told operators that they should not operate while they are still in the process of applying for a franchise.
Despite the agreement made by the LTFRB 7 and colorum vehicle operators, CT-Toda personnel were still able to stop colorum PUVs plying along the CSCR after the meeting. The apprehended drivers were endorsed to the LTFRB 7 for the filing of charges. (From FMD of SuperBalita Cebu, JKV)