Baguio City taxi operators want P5 rate reduction

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Taxicab operators in the summer capital want the government to impose a P5 reduction in flag-down rates, instead of a mandatory P10 that took effect on Monday.

This sentiment has reached the Cordillera office of the Department of Transportation and Communications, but the local taxi operators’ group has yet to formalize it, officials said.

In the Visayas, however, taxi operators are appealing anew to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to recall its order cutting by P10 the flag-down rate for taxis nationwide.

In a 17-page motion for reconsideration filed in the LTFRB in Cebu City on Monday, the Association of Taxi Operators in Panay and Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association asked the board to set aside its March 6 order directing the fare reduction.

“What appears to be a benefit at first blush will be a curse in the end for the riding public as fare reduction will inevitably degrade the entire taxi industry,” the groups said in their motion filed by their legal counsel, Joseph Vincent Go, who is also a taxi operator.

No petition yet

Until a petition is submitted and approved, however, the DOTC will require Baguio taxicabs to subtract P10 from the fares, said DOTC Cordillera Director Celina Claver, citing an order issued on March 10 by the LTFRB that qualifies that the reduction in flag-down rates applies to all regions.

“For taxi services operating in the regions, the provisional reduction of P10 shall apply by deducting the same from authorized flag-down rates in each region,” the order said.

The order said the provision also applies to airport taxis operating in regions outside Metro Manila.

Taxi operators’ groups in the Visayas argued that the flag-down rate should remain at P40 as current prices of both gasoline and diesel were almost the same when it was first implemented by the LTFRB on Jan. 22, 2010.

The price of diesel is now P32.50 per liter, or 25 centavos lower than in 2010, while that of gasoline stands at P42.50 per liter, or higher by 25 centavos.

Fuel price hikes

Since the P40 flag-down rate was implemented, fuel prices have increased to between P55 and P60 per liter for gasoline and from P47 to P50 for diesel. Fuel prices dropped only in the last quarter of 2014, the groups said.

“Prior to the decrease in the prices of fuel in the last quarter of 2014, oppositors and their respective drivers suffered and sustained the high cost of fuel for almost three years—at their exclusive expense—and to the benefit of the riding public as no fare increase or adjustment was issued after the (Jan. 22, 2010 fare increase),” they said.

They pointed out that while a net decrease of fuel prices was noted from the last quarter of 2014 until the first quarter of this year, prices of commodities, spare parts, motor vehicle registration and social services have risen, significantly eroding the income of drivers and operators.

“The provisional reduction in fare will only aggravate the worsening condition of the taxi industry, which is plagued by a shortage of taxi drivers, lack of taxicabs plying their respective routes due to shortage of taxi drivers, delays in the refleeting and modernization program, poorly maintained taxicabs, poor customer service, dishonesty and profiteering on the part of some taxi drivers, and by constricted income,” the taxi operators said. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas