LTFRB rephrases drive vs erring drivers

From the friendly question “How’s My Driving?” which is usually printed on the rear of public utility vehicles, commuters are now asked to report erring drivers with the more blunt-sounding “May reklamo ka (Any complaints)?”

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) stepped up its commuter rights awareness drive with the launch of the May Reklamo Ka? campaign last week.

“This strengthens the board’s drive against errant drivers,” LTFRB member Manuel Iway said in an interview on Friday. “We are asking commuters to report violations done against them by PUVs.”

The board ordered a change in the inscriptions written on PUVs, from “How’s My Driving” to the new Filipino version. It still requires the LTFRB hotline—which depends on the city or province—to be written alongside the new tagline.

Iway recalled that during the Arroyo administration, the agency put up a complaint hotline but those in charge “did not really appoint anyone to man the phones,” he said. “Today, the hotline is open 24 hours a day so people can call in any time.”

Last year, he said, 482 complaints reached the LTFRB, of which only 296 were acted upon. He said the low number was mainly due to the complainants’ failure to attend the hearings.

“(But) I think more people are finding out that they are not helpless and can come to us whenever they have bad experiences with PUVs,” Iway said.