MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) on Sunday ordered its personnel to go after colorum or unregistered Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) and picky cab drivers especially during the Christmas holidays.
According to LTO Chief Atty. Vigor Mendoza III, the Yuletide season often sees a rise in incidents where taxi drivers refuse to convey passengers who do not agree to their preferred terms of payment.
Mendoza said that this practice, called in Filipino as “pangongontrata,” is a violation of the taxi drivers’ franchise regulations.
“Marami sa mga taxi drivers ang nangongontrata at talagang hindi nagpapasakay kung hindi papayag sa gusto nilang presyuhan. Mahigpit pong ipinagbabawal ito dahil violation ito ng kanilang prangkisa,” said Mendoza in a press release.
(Many taxi drivers negotiate and really refuse to take passengers if they don’t agree with the fare they demand. This is strictly prohibited because it violates their franchise.)
“Because of the high number of passengers during Christmas time, it’s also the season when numerous unauthorized public utility vehicles emerge, and I ordered that this should be closely monitored,” he added in Filipino.
The LTO Chief mentioned that the operation, called “Oplan Pasaway,” entails the agency’s Law Enforcement Service to boost its presence in malls and other common gathering spots in Metro Manila to identify said violators.
Mendoza mentioned that he had directed LTO-Law Enforcement Service Director Francis Almora to deploy enforcers even outside regular office hours, particularly during nighttime, when there is a higher volume of passengers.
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He further explained that the mere presence of uniformed LTO enforcers is “enough to compel erring taxi drivers to behave and operators and drivers of colorum of vehicles to be discouraged in engaging in illegal activities.”
The LTO chief likewise said that the agency will coordinate with the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group and mall security managers to aid the enforcers in the operation.
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Moreover, Mendoza appealed to the public to alert LTO enforcers, police, or mall guards if they became victims of erring taxi drivers.
“Let’s work together to end this wrong system because these actions won’t stop if we allow them to victimize innocent passengers,” the LTO chief continued.