Colorum vans plying Cubao to Visayas route face crackdown

The Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) flagged colorum vans plying from Quezon City up to the Visayas. 

According to Emil Sumangil’s exclusive report on “24 Oras” on Monday, the HPG and the LTO raided an illegal terminal in Cubao, which houses the passenger vans operating without a franchise.  But authorities discovered that the heavily tinted vans were packed with passengers. 

“Nagbigay po ng tip ng isang transport group na kung saan may mga grupo po na gumagamit ng anti-colorum na sasakyan. May mga illegal documents po silang dala-dala din at hindi po ito talaga rehistrado,” said  PNP HPG spokesperson Police Lt. Nadame Malang. 

(A transport group gave a tip that groups are using anti-colorum vehicles. They are also carrying illegal documents, and these are not really registered.) 

Despite operating illegally, the vans are plying up to Northern Luzon and the Visayas. 

The PNP-HPG said that many commuters are patronizing colorum vehicles because fares are cheaper, sometimes at only P400, as compared to the legally operating vans that charge P650 to P1,000 per trip. 

But the PNP-HPG said that commuters may not be able to claim damages if the colorum vehicle gets into an accident. 

“Ang isa po sa nakakatakot at pangit na resulta para sa mga pasahero, wala po silang mahahabol na ano man pong danyos or tulong sa mismong driver, gayong ito po ay iligal at wala pong literal na prankisa,” said Malang. 

(One of the scary and bad consequences for the passengers is that they will not be able to claim any damages or assistance from the driver, since this is illegal and has no franchise.) 

LTO took custody of six drivers while six vans were impounded, the report said. Each driver was fined P200,000. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/LDF, GMA Integrated News