Gov. Joey Salceda INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Provincial bus operators and lawmakers in the Bicol region have expressed support for the Supreme Court petition filed by Albay Governor Joey Salceda to stop government agencies from banning provincial buses from entering Metro Manila.
Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines (PBOAP) expressed “full and unequivocal support” for Salceda’s petition, saying the ban discriminates against people from the provinces and that creating common terminals for provincial buses does not make economic sense.
PBOAP president Alex Yague said the broader contribution of provincial buses to the economy was often overlooked in the short-sighted argument to ban them from entering Metro Manila.
“That was the gist of the SC petition of the good governor. Aside from the fact that the policy discriminates against people from the provinces, the common terminals do not have any economic sense at all,” said Yague.
Singapore example
In a petition for prohibition and mandamus, Salceda said the bus scheme discriminated against ordinary rural folk who take the bus, such as students, traders and those with relatives in Metro Manila.
Named respondents in the suit were the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and its chair, Winston Ginez; the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and its chair, Francis Tolentino, and the Muntinlupa City government and Mayor Jaime Fresnedi.
Yague said businesses, like call centers, depended on provincial buses to move workers from their offices to their homes in provinces near Metro Manila.
“You cripple the movement of provincial buses and you also cripple the movement of BPO (business process outsourcing) personnel who now commute daily from their work to the provinces,” said Yague.
Yague said the government should emulate the example of Singapore, where the convoy of the prime minister gives way to buses.
Salceda took exception to a statement by Tolentino that said the governor misunderstood the bus scheme.
‘Pain of the people’
The governor said he could not have misunderstood “the pain of our people, who are already disadvantaged by the concentration of economic opportunity in the National Capital Region and must suffer the ignominy of a bus ban, an evil scheme hiding beneath the pretense of policy insanity.”
Albay Representative Edcel Greco Lagman, a lawyer, said the bus ban should not be enforced as it violates due process, noting that no formal notice or hearing was conducted by the LTFRB before the ban was implemented.
Lagman has called for a House investigation to determine if the LTFRB has overreached its rule-making powers while Albay Representative Fernando Gonzalez has authored a resolution asking the LTFRB to defer the implementation of the ban.