LTFRB: Delayed fare hike seen after commuters group's opposition
The new development came after a commuter from Camarines Norte, along with commuters' group United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (UFCC), urged the LTFRB to stop the implementation of the fare hike for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) slated on November 2.
"There’s a possibility," LTFRB chairperson Martin Delgra III told Palace reporters, when asked if the impending fare increase in jeepneys might be stalled, following the commuters' plea to suspend its implementation.
In a motion for reconsideration filed Tuesday, October 23, commuter Arlis Acao and UFCC representative Rodolfo Javellana emphasized that the fare increase was "unfair and unjust" to millions of Filipinos already buckling under the weight of rising prices of goods.
Delgra said the LTFRB would hear the petition this week, adding a decision would likely be released by 15 days.
"The oppositor who filed the motion for reconsideration was joined in by another commuters' group. So that motion for reconsideration is now set for agenda this week by the board and we will come out with a decision hopefully within the 15-day period during which the decision would become final," he said.
"But as I have said, we will agenda the motion for reconsideration this week. We are going to have a board meeting tomorrow so we will be able to discuss certainly and hopefully resolve it within the period," the LTFRB chief added.
Last week, the LTFRB raised the minimum fare of jeepneys plying routes in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog to P10.
The LTFRB reached the decision following the appeal of five transport groups in September to increase jeepney's minimum fare to cushion the impact of the soaring rise in fuel prices and operational cost.
On October 18, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the commuters will have to bear the brunt of fare hike, noting that the increase is merely "temporary."
"We really have to take the brunt sa ngayon (as of the moment)," Panelo said in the previous press conference. "The message is always this is just temporary. So hopefully, when everything settles down, babalik tayo sa dati (everything will go back to normal)." FORMER Bayan Muna party-list representative Neri Colmenares challenged the investigators to also include the military in the probe on the killing of the nine farm workers in Hacienda Nene in Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City.
Colmenares said investigators should not only focus on three angles behind the massacre but four.
"The perpetrators cited were the goons of the landowner who are members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, the New People’s Army (NPA) and the sugar farmers who were earlier awarded the land by the owner," he said.
Colmenares said that Brigadier General Eliezer Losañes, former commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Murcia town, earlier said that “bungkalan,” or communal farms, is part of the plan of the NPA.
Colmenares personally went to Sagay City Tuesday, October 23, and talked to the families of the nine victims of the massacre.
"If you have a lead and a motive, follow it. What kind of an investigation is that? That’s not a credible investigation. The magic words of the Duterte administration are intelligence reports. They attack using vague and flimsy intel reports," Colmenares pointed out.
He also urged the church and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct its own independent and impartial investigation.
"This is amid the calls of the families of the victims for true justice. Enough of the victim-blaming," he said.Colmenares said he is not representing the victims but admitted that lawyers’ group, the National Union of People's Lawyers, will help them if they want.
"It is not the correct time to discuss as this in the time of their bereavement," Colmenares said.
He also said that the victims want cases to be filed against the perpetrators of the crime.
"They want the suspects to be jailed, especially now that there are suspicious looking individuals following them. They fear for their lives, "Colmenares said.
T HE commuting public may expect possible delay in the implementation of fare hike for jeepneys after a petition was lodged against the recently approved P10 minimum fare, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Wednesday, October 24.