Two transport groups in Negros Occidental are asking the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to provide them the correct amendment cost for the franchise of the routes of public utility vehicles serving the Bacolod North Terminal in Bacolod City.

Alliance of Concerned Transport in Occidental Negros Inc. chairman, Teddy Macainan, and Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association president, Elizabeth Katalbas, said some PUV operators operating in the Northbound terminal have asked for their assistance because a certain group is charging them P3,500 by for the amendment of their franchise.

In their letter to LTFRB regional director Romulo Bernardes dated February 27, 2012, Macainan and Katalbas, said the operators want to know what it will cost them to amend their franchises in their routes from the original Shopping-Libertad, to Northbound vis-à-vis Burgos Market, and Mandalagan-Libertad to the Northbound Terminal.

Macainan said Councilor Dindo Ramos, chairman of the Sanggunian Committee on Transportation and Traffic Management, met with Bernares and told him that the operators have to pay only P600 for the amendment, and P500 for publication, or a total of P1,100.

At a public hearing called by Ramos recently that was attended by all major transport groups, it was agreed that the amendment of routes would be limited only to 100 units for the Shopping-Libertad franchise, he said.

In their letter, Macainan and Katalbas also asked Bernardes to denounce the matrix being circulated by a certain transport group so operators will not have to pay P3,500.

They also said it was announced during a public hearing that it is the LTFRB that has total control and supervision over issuances of franchises and the one mandated by law to collect and issue receipts to operators who wish to serve the riding public.*CGS

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