Cebu City taxi driver fined P1,000, operator P5,000 for not observing P10 rollback

CEBU CITY, Philippines – A taxi driver who claimed to have not heard of the P10 taxi fare rollback was penalized by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region 7 Office for not following the new order.

Emilio Senining, who has been working as a taxi driver for 10 years, was summoned to the office of the LTFRB Region 7 after a passenger, Virgilio Villanueva, claimed that the driver did not give him the P10 deduction from the total fare reflected in the receipt.

According to LTFRB 7 assistant information officer Emil Membrilles, Villanueva boarded the Zircon Taxi cab at around 8 a.m. from Maguikay Mandaue City to Nivel Hills in Lahug Cebu City.

The taxi meter pegged Villanueva’s fare at P145 and the taxi driver got the total amount without deducting P10.

Since the flagdown rate rollback was provisional, the taxi meters would not be recalibrated, so taxi drivers were just required to deduct P10 from the total amount reflected in the receipt.

Villanueva immediately reported the taxi body number 1534 of Zircon taxi to LTFRB. Membrilles said they called up the taxi operator of Zircon Taxi identified as Gladys Dianne Lee who contacted Senining.

Senining was apologetic when he faced the officials of LTFRB, said Membrilles.

Senining when interviewed admitted that he indeed did not deduct the P10 from his passenger’s total fare.

He said that while he heard about the rollback, he did not know the implementation started Monday (Mar. 9).“Music man gud pirmi akong gipaminaw, wa man ko’y balita, di man ko ganahan og balita (I only listened to music. I don’t like listening news programs).”

But upon the order of the LTFRB 7 hearing officer, lawyer Edwin Antepuesto, Membrilles issued the Inspection Report Summon (IRS), which carried the penalty for overcharging.

Since it was a first offense, Senining was required to pay P1,000 and the taxi operator, Lee, must pay P5,000 in penalty.

The IRS would be deemed final after 72 hours if the driver and operator would not contest it, Antepuesto said in an interview.  If the driver and operator would contest the IRS, then the hearing officer would set a date for a hearing wherein all parties including the complainant must attend.

However, Antepuesto doubted if the driver would contest the penalty since he admitted his offense.

Antepuesto said they were just implementing the law and was sending a strong signal that violators would be penalized.

Senining said he was ready to face the consequence of his action. He apologized to Villanueva, through the interview, but said, if the order were not reconsidered, he could not do anything but obey it.

He admitted that his income as taxi driver has been so small, a minimum of P500 a day. His two children are already in high school. With the P10 rollback of the flagdown rate, his daily income would be lessened. LTFRB 7 Officer in charge Reynaldo Elnar asked drivers to follow the fare rollback order. He said that on the second offense and third offense, the drivers would still be penalized with P1,000. But the operator must pay P10,000 plus suspension of franchise for the second offense and in the 3rd offense, the operator must pay P15,000 plus cancellation of franchise.

LTFRB 7 officials also put up stickers in the different areas of Metro Cebu on Monday as part of the information drive. The stickers remind the drivers to just deduct P10 from the total fare.