Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas Photo from the mayor’s Facebook page
ILOILO CITY — Mayor Jerry Treñas of this city on Tuesday said he is confident that amendments to the city’s Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP), which was suspended last year, could be implemented in just 45 days.
The mayor received the approved “enhanced” LPTRP from officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) at his office on Tuesday.
Details of the new plan have not been revealed to the public yet, but a letter by LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III approving the amended plan was dated February 14, more than a month before the regional office turned it over to city officials.
Under the letter, the city government may only be able to amend the plan after three years.
Treñas said he was confident that the amendments to the LPTRP would be implemented this year or within 45 days.
He also nixed any ideas to amend further the plan, which was suspended last year.
READ: Iloilo City halts transport route plan OKd by DOTr
“This is the final results [of the LPTRP]. If we keep subjecting to amendments, I may not live to see [the approved plan],” Treñas quipped.
LTFRB-Western Visayas Transport Development Officer II Joshua Gaquit explained that the letter, conformed to by Treñas, would be returned with a notice of compliance to their central office.
After the notice, the letter would then be given to the city council to make the corresponding ordinance, which would then be forwarded upon the mayor’s approval to the LTFRB central office.
A memorandum circular would be issued to implement the plan finally.
“The LPTRP will be the basis for improved and rationalized routes, and the PUV Modernization Program is anchored on the LPTRP to check the viability of [proposed] routes,” said Gaquit.
Iloilo City is the first local government unit to fully implement the LPTRP, which was introduced by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2017 via Joint Memorandum Circular No. 001.
The LPTRP was first implemented in the city on June 12, 2022 through City Regulation Ordinance No. 2022-027, backed by LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2022-024.
But a few weeks after the kick-off, on July 1, the mayor suspended the plan due to clamor from both the riding public and transport groups over the lack of units and the elimination of routes from the neighboring towns of Leganes, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara.
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