CITRASCO set to file opposition to receipts

Cebu - Although the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has started the gradual implementation of the meter receipt scheme for 33,000 taxi units all over the country, Cebu-based City Integrated Transport Services and Cooperative is expected to file its opposition before the end of the week.

“Maybe Thursday or Friday we will submit our opposition,” Ryan Benjamin Yu, CITRASCO managing director said.

Yu said that they are opposing this new LTFRB policy as it is tantamount to double taxation.

LTFRB regional director Romulo Bernardes said that all regional directors in the country will be having their first conference for the year in Manila for two days, starting today. Bernardes said that in the agenda is the discussion of the guidelines in the implementation of the meter receipt scheme in Central Visayas.

LTFRB chairman Thompson Lantion had earlier said that taxi units that have no metered receipt will not be allowed to be registered. All meters that issue receipts must be registered with the BIR.

The meter receipt scheme, which is seen to address the problem of overcharging, must be approved by the Bureau of Internal Revenue before LTFRB will allow the registration of a taxi unit.

Taxi operators questioned the said scheme before the Court of Appeals, but such petition was dismissed and later elevated the matter to the Supreme Court, which handed a decision favoring LTFRB’s new measure.

The implementation of the meter receipt scheme is aimed at protecting the commuters.

The scheme is also aimed to monitor and improve revenue collection.

Violators of this new measure will be fined P1,500 for the first offense, a suspension of the certificate of public convenience for 30 days for the second offense, and CPC will be cancelled for the third offense. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)