LTFRB: Striking operators recorded
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Despite the earlier transport strike conducted in protest of plans to modernize public utility vehicles, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) affirmed plans will proceed. In a radio interview with RMN DYHB-Bacolod, LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgara explained, the modernization program will not be suspended.
He said it would be “impossible” to halt the program since it has been mandated by President Rodrigo Duterte, who tagged the program as “important.”
In a separate interview with Watchmen Daily Journal, LTFRB-Western Visayas Director Richard Osmeña said they have already recorded the transport operators who participated in the strike and all of them risk losing their franchise.
He also reiterated, under the certificate of public convenience, which are provided for firms that oversee public facilities, operators are not allowed to participate in transport strikes.
The LTFRB official cited an example wherein two bus companies had their franchises revoked after they participated in a 2010 transport strike.
Earlier, Sentrong Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Negros Secretary-General Jessie Ortega traded barbs with Osmeña and claimed the regional director’s statements as “a tactic in order to strike fear for operators.”/DGB, WDJ