Baguio transport officers hit for ‘fund irregularities’
>> Saturday, November 5, 2022
CDA-CAR told: Hasten probe
By
Jordan G. Habbiling
BAGUIO CITY – Officers of a transport cooperative were assailed for alleged fund irregularities and for not holding elections for five years to date.
The city council, in its regular session Oct. 24, urged the Cooperative and Development Authority to hasten its investigation on the alleged violations of the board of directors of Cordillera Basic Sectors Transport Cooperative (CBSTC).
The council’s move came following complaint of CBSTC members who alleged their incumbent BODs failed to conduct election of officers among others.
The complainants were led by Rex Bayangan, former secretary general of CBSTC.
“We have not
had our election of officers for the past five years. This is a blatant
violation of our by-laws and upfront disrespect to democratic principles,”
Bayangan wrote in his letter to the city council.
During the
forum, lawyer EJ Dilag, CDA Cordillera representative, said a special order
would soon be issued for the composition of a team that would conduct the
investigation as response to two petitions the office received from members of
the cooperative.
Dilag affirmed the transport cooperative had not conducted any general assembly to elect a new set of officers.
He said as provided for in Republic Act 9520 or Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, at least 10 percent of members of a cooperative may petition for conduct of a special general assembly.
If the petition was not acted upon, the CDA, upon receipt of the petition, will issue an order compelling the cooperative to conduct a special general assembly, he added.
He claimed CBSTC officers had not undergone necessary training as mandated by the Cooperative Code.
This, according to him, could be a ground for disciplinary action or even removal from their positions.
In his letter, Bayangan also alleged officers had demanded the cooperative members/operators for the Aurora Hill and Trancoville routes through a text message to pay their shares of P100,000 per unit for the consolidation of their franchises on or before Sept. 30, 2022.
Failure to pay, according to the text message, would mean the units would be automatically forfeited.
Also, the text message stated delay in payment would result in a penalty in the amount of P5,000 per day.
Bayangan described this act as harassment.
During the forum, engineer Elmer Mendoza Jr., LTFRB-CAR representative, explained that the penalty imposed by the LTFRB is given only when the cooperative failed to “exhaust other remedies” to pay for the purchase of the modern jeepney units.
“We do not impose the penalty right away without hearing their side. If there are justifiable reasons for their failure to pay, they can be excused,” Mendoza said.
Bayangan also claimed that an amount of P1,000 was being collected from operators of traditional jeepneys for Aurora Hill, Trancoville, and Dominican Hill routes in exchange for provisional authority which, according to them, is issued by the Land Transportation and Franchising Board (LTFRB) for free.
Provisional authority is given to members of transport cooperatives that are still operating traditional jeepneys but are already working on transitioning to modern ones.
Mendoza clarified the only amount collected is P260 which is considered filing fee.
He said the filing fee is paid for the entire consolidation and not individually.
“Whatever the officers are collecting in the amount of P1,000 for every provisional authority, that is not the guidance of the LTFRB,” Mendoza said.
Officers of the transport cooperative failed to attend the forum. No prior notice explaining their absence had reached the city council.
In an interview last Oct. 27, CBSTC chairman Jude Wal said these allegations had been magnified to cover up the irregularities that Bayangan had allegedly committed when he was the CBSTC secretary general.
Wal said he and the other officers had started undertaking legal steps against Bayangan for alleged misuse of the transport cooperative’s funds.
Wal said the officers refused to relinquish their positions because they are still in the process of perfecting the transport cooperative’s policies, putting into place mechanisms, and introducing more innovations.
“We are open to whoever will be the next set of officers. But before the succession, we want to make sure first that everything is in place and that there are potential members to succeed our positions so that the income of the transport cooperative is sustainable,” he added.
He said the regional CDA had been informed of their plan to suspend the election of officers until everything is in order.
The CBSTC president also denied sending a text message advisory to the members urging them to pay their shares for consolidation.
He said all advisories the officers issued went through proper communication procedures and not merely through text messaging.
He added the P1,000 being collected from members was meant to shoulder the transport cooperative’s ‘administrative expenses’ for processing of documents.
“Before we collected, we made sure that the members understood where the money was going,” he said.
He disputed Mendoza’s claim officers had not undergone the required training.
“All the members, not only the officers, attended pre-registration seminars as required by the CDA. There, we tackled the principles and good governance of cooperativism. We also attended a cooperated education transport operation seminar conducted by the Department of Transportation with the same topics. Not only that, we undertook the pre-membership seminar on business orientation related to transport cooperatives. These seminars should have already sufficed,” he said.
Dilag affirmed the transport cooperative had not conducted any general assembly to elect a new set of officers.
He said as provided for in Republic Act 9520 or Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008, at least 10 percent of members of a cooperative may petition for conduct of a special general assembly.
If the petition was not acted upon, the CDA, upon receipt of the petition, will issue an order compelling the cooperative to conduct a special general assembly, he added.
He claimed CBSTC officers had not undergone necessary training as mandated by the Cooperative Code.
This, according to him, could be a ground for disciplinary action or even removal from their positions.
In his letter, Bayangan also alleged officers had demanded the cooperative members/operators for the Aurora Hill and Trancoville routes through a text message to pay their shares of P100,000 per unit for the consolidation of their franchises on or before Sept. 30, 2022.
Failure to pay, according to the text message, would mean the units would be automatically forfeited.
Also, the text message stated delay in payment would result in a penalty in the amount of P5,000 per day.
Bayangan described this act as harassment.
During the forum, engineer Elmer Mendoza Jr., LTFRB-CAR representative, explained that the penalty imposed by the LTFRB is given only when the cooperative failed to “exhaust other remedies” to pay for the purchase of the modern jeepney units.
“We do not impose the penalty right away without hearing their side. If there are justifiable reasons for their failure to pay, they can be excused,” Mendoza said.
Bayangan also claimed that an amount of P1,000 was being collected from operators of traditional jeepneys for Aurora Hill, Trancoville, and Dominican Hill routes in exchange for provisional authority which, according to them, is issued by the Land Transportation and Franchising Board (LTFRB) for free.
Provisional authority is given to members of transport cooperatives that are still operating traditional jeepneys but are already working on transitioning to modern ones.
Mendoza clarified the only amount collected is P260 which is considered filing fee.
He said the filing fee is paid for the entire consolidation and not individually.
“Whatever the officers are collecting in the amount of P1,000 for every provisional authority, that is not the guidance of the LTFRB,” Mendoza said.
Officers of the transport cooperative failed to attend the forum. No prior notice explaining their absence had reached the city council.
In an interview last Oct. 27, CBSTC chairman Jude Wal said these allegations had been magnified to cover up the irregularities that Bayangan had allegedly committed when he was the CBSTC secretary general.
Wal said he and the other officers had started undertaking legal steps against Bayangan for alleged misuse of the transport cooperative’s funds.
Wal said the officers refused to relinquish their positions because they are still in the process of perfecting the transport cooperative’s policies, putting into place mechanisms, and introducing more innovations.
“We are open to whoever will be the next set of officers. But before the succession, we want to make sure first that everything is in place and that there are potential members to succeed our positions so that the income of the transport cooperative is sustainable,” he added.
He said the regional CDA had been informed of their plan to suspend the election of officers until everything is in order.
The CBSTC president also denied sending a text message advisory to the members urging them to pay their shares for consolidation.
He said all advisories the officers issued went through proper communication procedures and not merely through text messaging.
He added the P1,000 being collected from members was meant to shoulder the transport cooperative’s ‘administrative expenses’ for processing of documents.
“Before we collected, we made sure that the members understood where the money was going,” he said.
He disputed Mendoza’s claim officers had not undergone the required training.
“All the members, not only the officers, attended pre-registration seminars as required by the CDA. There, we tackled the principles and good governance of cooperativism. We also attended a cooperated education transport operation seminar conducted by the Department of Transportation with the same topics. Not only that, we undertook the pre-membership seminar on business orientation related to transport cooperatives. These seminars should have already sufficed,” he said.
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