Ex-LTFRB chair Bautista found guilty of indirect contempt

A Quezon City court on Monday found Maria Elena Bautista, erstwhile chair of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), guilty of indirect contempt for failing to take prompt action on a bus franchising dispute. The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC RTC) also slapped a P20,000-fine against Bautista, who was recently named undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC). Judge Afable Cajigal of the QC RTC-Branch 96 issued the order after denying Bautista's very urgent motion for reconsideration, which sought a reversal of the guilty verdict last July 26. Bautista also faces jail time, according to Cajigal's July order, should she fail to transfer the franchise name of bus company Inland Trailways to Dondon Liner. A standing arrest order has also been issued against Bautista until the franchise transfer has been completed. However, Bautista had earlier contested that she was denied due process and that the court does not have the power to meddle with the LTFRB. She insisted that the transfer was not simply a ministerial act. Acting upon Bautista's petition for certiorari and prohibition ex abundanti ad cautelam, the Court of Appeals last August 4 issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against Cajigal's decision. The TRO has expired. "The court reiterates that under the factual and legal circumstances of this case, there is good reason to cite the dilatorious and contemptuous acts of the LTFRB leadership, though the person of its chairperson, in continuously withholding any deliberation or for inaction on the application for the transfer of franchise in the name of Dondon Liner," Cajigal said in his order. The judge also ordered current LTFRB chair Thompson Lantion to act upon Dondon Liner's application to transfer the franchise name.-GMANews.TV