LTFRB to penalize operators, drivers for sex abuse inside PUVs

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will penalize operators, drivers, conductors and employees who commit sexual harassment in public utility vehicles (PUVs) under a new policy issued on March 21.

Under Memorandum Circular No. 2023-016, PUV operators are mandated to ensure that gender-based sexual harassment will not be committed inside the PUVs and that any commission of the act is properly attended to and reported to the authorities.

“We are directing our PUV operators, drivers, conductors and their employees, through this memorandum circular, to make sure that safe space is protected at all times against sexual harassment of any form,” LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III said in a statement on Monday.

“It will be their responsibility to prevent and report the commission of these acts against their passengers and more importantly, make sure that they are not the ones who will commit these acts themselves because the consequences will be harsh,” he added.

PUV operators, drivers, conductors and employees committing sexual harassment acts face a fine of P5,000 and suspension of the involved vehicle for six months for the first offense, a P10,000 fine and one-year vehicle suspension for the second offense and a P15,000 fine and revocation of the vehicle’s Certificate of Public Convenience for the third offense. INQ