Speed up permit for jeepneys in Bacolod to run until Dec. 31—Western Visayas LTFRB directed
BACOLOD CITY — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) head office directed on May 10, its Western Visayas office to expedite the issuance of provisional authorities (PAs) to allow traditional Bacolod jeepneys to continue operating in this city until Dec. 31 of this year.
City Administrator Pacifico Maghari said he met with the LTFRB board members led by their chairman Teofilo Guadiz III at their head office in Quezon City.
“They assured that the issuance of PA applications at the regional office as requested and endorsed by the city will be expedited,” Maghari said.
“The PAs will allow the traditional jeepneys to operate until December 31 as stated in an LTFRB memorandum circular on the transition to modernization,” he added.
The issuance of the PAs would be subject to the submission of required documents, including Motor Vehicle Inspection Center test results, the LTFRB said.
Maghari said more than 1,000 endorsements for the extension of the provisional authority of traditional Bacolod jeepneys were awaiting approval at the LTFRB regional office.
Mayor Alfredo Alfredo Benitez called Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista on Monday to inform him that the city government’s original arrangement with the LTFRB-Western Visayas to give provisional authorities to the traditional jeepneys to operate was derailed with the change of its chief transport development officer.
Bautista assured Benitez that he would inform the LTFRB board about his concern.
“What was agreed on is that the city would endorse the applications for provisional authority to fill in the gap caused by the lack of modernized jeepneys in Bacolod and the LTFRB would grant them,” Benitez said.
Some members of transportation groups staged a strike in front of the Bacolod City Government Center on Monday morning against the failure to release the PAs.
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