DOTr considering amnesty for colorum PUVs

Commuters wait in vain for a ride on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City as PUV drivers and operators go on a transport holiday to protest against higher penalties for colorum vehicles. INQUIRER FILE / LYN RILLON

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will “seriously consider” giving amnesty to colorum or illegally operating public utility vehicles (PUV) for the benefit of commuters.

DOTr Assistant Secretary Mark de Leon and LTFRB Chair Martin Delgra III said this on Thursday during the technical working group meeting of the House of Representatives transportation committee.

It was Marikina 1st District Rep. Bayani Fernando, former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chair, who floated the idea during the meeting.

“The colorums are there, bata pa ko may colorum na… hanggang ngayon…” he pointed out. “Without the colorums it will be so difficult for people to get a ride and the role of the transport agency is to provide transport for everyone… available muna dapat.”

“Lahat ng kolorum bigyan na ng prangkisa dahil sila ang best measure of road capacity, dahil hindi tatagal ‘yan ng ilang dekada kung walang kita,” he continued.

De Leon agreed with Fernando, saying the DOTr already implemented a similar scheme in Mindoro after the franchise of a bus operator was suspended and cripple transportation there.

“Maganda po ‘yung nabanggit ni Cong. Bayani na amnesty dun sa mga colorum. Ginawa po namin ito recently dun sa Mindoro nung sinuspinde ‘yung prangkisa ng isang bus operator dahil dun sa isang aksidente sa Mindoro… walang tumatakbong prangkisa sa mindoro dahil dun…” he explained, adding that the DOTr gave provincial authority franchises to 45 bus units in the province.

“We will seriously consider implementing the same in Metro Manila and the rest of the country,” he added.

Delgra meanwhile said this could be implemented in the metropolis, provided that it would be conducted during the three-year transition period of the government’s PUV modernization program which was launched in June 2017. He also said routes of these PUVs should still be rationalized.

But Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon cautioned the panel, as well as the transportation agencies against implementing the amnesty scheme.

Biazon stressed that “enforcement against colorum vehicles should be heightened” if the program would be adopted in Metro Manila.

“Amnesty has worked in some cases. There is amnesty in firearms but it did not solve the presence of illegal firearms in the country. There’s amnesty in tax, we never got rid of tax evaders… If we just simply put amnesty on colorum vehicles, it will not end colorum vehicles because they have extra profit,” he explained.

Fernando acknowledged this and said “draconian measures” should then be implemented after the colorum vehicles were given amnesty, to make sure they won’t become illegal again.

“Kapalit nyan, ang sino mang colorum na mahuli pa, wala nang multa multa, sisirain na ang unit para wag na makabalik sa kalye. At magmula sa araw na ‘yun, bago ka bumili ng ano mang sasakyang pampasada, kinakailangan meron ka munang prangkisa. Pag bumili ka ng pampasada na walang prangkisa, hindi ka na mabibigyan ng prangkisa,” the lawmaker said. /cbb