No let-up in drive vs colorum vehicles – Abalos
THERE should be no let-up in the campaign against unauthorized public transport vehicles as Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos warned colorum operators of a hefty fine for them to think twice.
“Napakalaki po nito, napakabigat po. Kaya warning na lang po, kung may colorum vehicles kayo, huwag na po kayong lumabas. Dahil siguradong mahuhuli kayo, mai-impound (ang inyong mga sasakyan). At ito ay sinasabi mismo ng batas. And we have to implement the law,” he said.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil also warned cops who are involved in colorum or unregistered vehicles will have to undergo a lifestyle check.
He directed the Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) to intensify the monitoring of cops’ activities as he vowed zero tolerance for police officers involved in illegal operations.
“Kung talagang may ganyan (If there are really cases like that), we have IMEG to check the lifestyle of the police,” Marbil said Wednesday during the signing of the memorandum of agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority for the creation of a joint task force (JTF) that would address traffic concerns and tackle colorum operations in the National Capital Region.
Abalos Jr. said they are also checking the involvement of other officials in colorum operations but can’t go into details yet.
The cooperation among the three agencies led to the apprehension of 56 colorum passenger operations, 44 out-of-line operations, impounded 100 units to date, and arrested three persons in total.
Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 specified the fines and penalties for violations of policies governing land transportation, for first offense of colorum violation, buses shall be fined P1 million; vans and trucks with P200,000; sedan vehicles with P120,000; and, P50,000 for jeepneys.
Second offense shall correspond to the revocation of the Certificate of Public Convenience. disqualification of the operator, blacklisting of all authorized units of the operator and revocation of the registration of all authorized units of the operator.
Following the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Abalos said colorum vehicles must be wiped out from the streets as these contribute to traffic congestion.
“Ang mga colorum na ito ang siyang nagpapadami ng mga sasakyan. Kaya ang utos po sa amin ng Pangulo ay gawin namin ang lahat upang maibsan namin ang traffic dito [Metro Manila],” he explained.
In Memorandum Circular 2024-26, the DILG chief directed local government units to pass ordinances banning operators of colorum vehicles from using transport terminals within their jurisdictions.
