Gov’t stops collection of toll on road in Hacienda Luisita

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) on Thursday stopped the collection of service fees on an access road inside Hacienda Luisita that connects to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

The TRB reached the decision in a special board meeting on Thursday afternoon, said Julius Corpuz, TRB spokesperson.

The cease and desist order was addressed to “all entities whose names appear on tickets issued to motorists and to companies known to have built the San Miguel access road or owned or maintained it to make sure it gets to proper recipients,” said Corpuz.

Motorists passing through the road to reach the SCTEx from the MacArthur Highway in Tarlac City have complained about the collection of fees imposed starting May 17. Cars are charged P20 while vans and small delivery trucks pay P50 for using the road. Buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles are charged P100.

“Passthru” tickets turned in by motorists to the Inquirer bore the acronyms “JCSI-BICSI” and “SCI-MAC.”

But Antonio Ligon, lawyer of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), clarified that the firm was not collecting service fees on the road.

“HLI is not the one in charge of collection of fees,” Ligon told the Inquirer on Thursday after arriving from the United States.

When asked, Ligon, however, could not say which firm is collecting road maintenance fees from motorists using the 7.5-kilometer San Miguel access road.

Ligon said the HLI could not be collecting fees on that road because it belongs to the Tarlac Development Corp. (TDC).

“It is being maintained by [JCSI], which is represented by a separate counsel on toll matters,” he said.

The HLI has “not entered into any contract as far as toll collection is concerned,” Ligon said, citing information obtained from the HLI corporate secretary.

HLI, he said, built the road’s 2.7-km extension as “payment for quarry fees.”

Corpuz said the “JCSI-BICSI” stands for Jose Cojuangco & Sons Inc.-Brown International Corporate Services Inc.—indicating that the Cojuangco family has a hand in the toll collection.

“A check with the [Securities and Exchange Commission] showed that BICSI is doing services for JCSI,” Corpuz said.

He said BICSI has a branch at the Hacienda Luisita but he did not say what kind of service the company does for JCSI.