LTFRB launches drive vs illegal taxis in Cagayan de Oro

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –– In response to complaints of the proliferation of taxis operating illegally in the city, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Region 10 (LTFRB-10) started a three-day crackdown on Thursday through massive inspections of units.

LTFRB-10 regional director Aminoden Guro said the inspection aims to validate the inventory of taxi units that have been issued a franchise, hence determine which ones were unregistered.

At an empty lot in the city’s uptown area in Upper Carmen, taxis lined up to be checked by LTFRB-10 personnel.

“We are doing a countercheck to determine if the body number we issued to taxis for three years is still being used by the same units,” Guro said.

The body number, beginning with “RX” followed by a series of numbers and painted on the side of the taxi, is one of the proofs that a taxi is registered with the LTFRB, aside from having a sealed meter.

Guro said body numbers no longer in use would be awarded to new franchisees.

He said their target was to inspect 1,000 taxi units per day as they expected to finish counterchecking by Saturday.

After the inspection, Guro said they would activate the inter-agency task force composed of LTFRB, Land Transportation Office, Highway Patrol Group, the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, and the city government’s Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA).

During the City Council session on Monday, Guro told lawmakers he needed at least 10 RTA enforcers to help the task force in its anti-illegal operation, which was expected to operate for one month.

He vowed to get rid of illegal taxis by next year.

In compliance with the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines of the Department of Transportation, the LTFRB-10 has now required taxi operators to form a corporation or cooperative before they are issued the franchise.

Guro said many individual owners of taxis with a franchise have signified their intent to register their units with the LTFRB-10, adding these operators were in the process of affiliating with three corporations and one cooperative.

Meantime, Guro has appealed to the public to patronize only taxis that have a franchise.

“Please don’t ride colorum taxis. In case of an accident, it will be unfortunate if passengers and their beneficiaries cannot avail of insurance because the taxi they hailed is illegally operating,” he added.

Edited by LZB