TAGUM CITY (April 24) — Personnel of Land Transport Office (LTO) XI on Tuesday night impounded a passenger bus for plying Davao-Manila route without the government issued franchise.
The bus bearing the name Surigao Transport Corp. with plate number RFT-677 bearing body number 10788-J was flagged down by LTO personnel at about 7:00 in the evening, while traversing the Tagum-Mawab highway carrying ten passengers en route to Manila.
Benjamin Antonio Jr., chief of the law enforcement division of LTO XI told NewsLine.ph “We received report that a bus is plying Davao-Manila but we failed to find it in Davao, so we tried to locate here and we found it.”
Antonio said the driver failed to provide information regarding the ownership of the vehicle and could not present any document, “He immediately find excuse and left the bus.”
What was surprising according to Antion, was the fact that the body of the vehicle bluntly displayed the word “LTO” as the bus operator.
When they search in their system the engine and chassis number, Antonio said, it revealed that the bus was last registered in 2007.
Cristino del Rosario, an ambulant vendor in Tagum public market said the bus has been plying the route for years and they offer a bit cheaper fare for Tagum-Manila trip “Puno man na sila ug pasahero inig hawa diri, dugay na man na sila naga-biahe” (The bus is usually loaded with passengers when they depart here, it has been plying the route for years).”
Antonio said, passengers who are taking colorum vehicle run the risk of getting nothing when an accident happens.
The owner of the bus will be penalized P1-million for colorum operations and other penalties will also be imposed.-Editha Z. Caduaya/NewsLine.ph
