LTFRB impounds 6 ‘colorum’ tourist buses in QC

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has impounded six "colorum" tourist buses while about to ferry private school students to a field trip.

In a report by Tina Panganiban-Perez on Balitanghali on Saturday, the LTFRB chanced upon units of the Cianzar Bus Transport parked at the Quezon City Memorial Circle (QCMC) and discovered it has not been issued a franchise.

"Hindi pa ho lumalabas 'yung kanilang prangkisa. Hindi ho ibig sabihin na nag-apply kayo at nag-hearing na kayo, puwede na kayong tumakbo," said LTFRB board member Aileen Lizada.

Lizada said the bus company is facing franchise violations, which includes a fine of P1 million for each bus unit.

She said the operator of the bus company will be required to attend the hearings that will be set by the LTFRB.

"It is no joke. One bus is P1 million, you're talking of P6 million to get it," she said.

The Cianzar buses are currently impounded at the QCMC and will be brought to Pampanga next week.

In a phone interview with GMA News, the bus line's liaison officer reportedly admitted the lapse but said the LTFRB has not been acting on their application for franchise, adding that what they pay for the buses goes to waste when the units are unused.

The tour coordinator, meanwhile, claimed that the bus operator presented the necessary documents and said they did not know that the bus line was operating without a franchise.

Initially meant to replace the Cianzar buses, at least one bus from the Tanacle Tours arrived, only to be apprehended as well for supposedly traveling outside its designated route of Bicol.

Its operator was reportedly able to present documents showing that it has a standing application to travel to any point in the Philippines, but Lizada noted that the order of provisional authority issued in this effect in 2014 was beyond its 90-day validity.

The Tanacle Tours bus was eventually allowed to travel after it had been proved that the reason for the delay on its papers was on the part of the LTFRB.

Under a joint administrative order issued by the LTFRB, the Land Transportation Office and the then-Department of Transportation and Communication in 2014, first offenders of colorum violations face a minimum of three months of impounding, apart from a fine ranging from P6,000 (for motorcycles) to P1 million (for buses). —Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/ALG, GMA News