LTO, LTFRB colorum war heats up in Tarlac

By Mar T. Supnad

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga – Top officials of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) here urged a transport group to name those who were receiving protection money to allow colorum public utility vehicles (PUVs) to ply in Tarlac.

“They should name names and identify who are those receiving the protection money, this is a serious allegation, but I have nothing to do with that,” said LTO Regional Director Marina de Jesus.

“Ewan ko sa iba, peroang office ko, wala kaming tinatanggap dyan,” added de Jesus.

She said she has already ordered her Assistant Regional Director Jorge Mamba Jr., and Operations Chief NarcisoManiacup to conduct surprise inspections in areas cited in a news report as crawling with colorum jeepneys and vans.

LTO patrol personnel and their counterparts in the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) were dispatched early Tuesday to the area, but came up empty handed as no one was able to apprehend any of the reported 60 colorum PUVs.

This only boosted suspicion that the group protecting the illegal PUVs had a mole inside the two agencies.

A local newsman had noted that “a night before the operation, there had been tips circulating that LTO patrolmen and LTFRB personnel are going to operate against the colorum PUVs. But it turned out to be a moro-moro operation because someone leaked it, and no one among the 160 colorum operators dispatched their PUVs because they were tipped off.”

But LTFRB director Zona Russet Tamayo, said it was not her office who leaked the operation, as she also challenged accusers to prove their allegations that top LTFRB and LTO officials are receiving protection money from operators of the colorum PUVs.

“It is not my office or men who leaked the operation, kokonti nga lang kami e, hindi kami, and I did not issue a single temporary permit to the jeepneys and vans,” insisted Tamayo, whose office was blamed for the proliferation of illegal jeepneys and vans passenger vehicles in Tarlac.

De Jesus and Tamayo’s action came after  leaders of the Tarlac-Moncada-Gerona-Paniqui Transport Cooperative, Inc. (TAMOGEPA) filed a petition with De Jesus, complaining about the unabated operation of some 160 colurom vans and jeepneys in their area. They added that these PUVs were operating illegally right under the noses of LTO and LTFRB officials.

The TAMOGEPA complaint, signed by its chairman Bernie Fajardo and the Board of Directors, also  requested De Jesus to “immediately suspend the officers of the LTO Paniqui District office and the LTO Tarlac City District office for gross negligence for not acting against colorum UVs.”

Each colorum operator reportedly paid R150,000 to R250,000  to some corrupt LTO and LTFRB officials in exchange for plying their route without any legal franchise.