Nation

LTFRB lauds CA ruling on phase out of old PUVs

Dennis Carcamo - The Philippine Star

June 25, 2013 | 2:05pm

MANILA, Philippines - Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Winston Ginez said on Tuesday that the Board welcomes the Court of Appeals' decision to allow the LTFRB to implement its circulars phasing out public utility vehicles that are 13 years old or older.

"The LTFRB wants to extend its gratitude to the Court of Appeals in supporting our plan to modernize our transport industry by ruling in our favor the imposition of age limit for UVs in our country," Ginez said.

In its ruling, the CA said the court does not have the power to control "the manner of exercising such discretion" or the LTFRBâ€™s authority to approve or deny an application for certificate of public conveyance.

It added that confirmation grant or denial of the application for legalization is not just a matter of administrative function of the LTFRB, but rather calls for the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions.

"One of my marching orders from our President and DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya when I assumed leadership at LTFRB is to find ways to modernize our transport system to be at par with our neighboring countries in the region," Ginez said.

The country has one of the oldest public utility vehicles allowed to operate on roads, he added.

Ginez said that the CAâ€™s decision will facilitate the eradication of PUVs that are no longer road worthy on national highways.

In an LTFRB memorandum circular last year, UVs that are 13 years old and above will be phased out.

The directive also allows the substitution of the old vehicles with those not more than three years old.

Meanwhile, the LTFRB is also set to discuss with provincial bus transport operators that will be affected when the first of the three centralized provincial bus terminals begins operations in July.

This is part of the joint project of the DOTC, Metro Manila Development Authority and Department of Public Works and Highways to establish the Integrated Transport System catering to more than 7,000 provincial buses serving Metro Manila.

Under the plan, all provincial buses will be barred from entering the main roads, particularly Edsa, to ease traffic congestion in the metropolis.

They will stay in three designated terminals -- the South-West ITS terminal in Coastal Mall for buses plying the Cavite and Batangas routes, the South-East ITS terminal located at the PNCC Compound in Taguig for buses plying the South Luzon Expressway, and the North ITS terminal, located near the Trinoma mall in Quezon City, to service provincial buses that use the North Luzon Expressway.

"The LTFRB supports the governmentâ€™s ITS project to decongest traffic in our main roads," Ginez said.

"As part of our franchising and regulatory powers, we will require all provincial buses to terminate their end route only up to their designated ITS terminals," he added.