ADVOCATES for the protection of passengers on Monday urged the Department of Transportation to incorporate transport adjudicators into the structure of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to speed up the resolution of franchise cases and other complaints against erring public utility vehicle operators.
Ariel Inton, Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection founder, said both the DoTr and the LTFRB must adopt other means to ease the backlog of cases at the LTFRB, instead of just allowing its three board members and the chairman to resolve all the cases and petitions.
“The LTFRB has quasi-judicial functions under Executive Order No. 202, just like the National Labor Relations Commission and Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development’s Human Settlements Adjudication Commission. These two agencies have their own adjudicators or arbiters that solely look into all cases that need immediate actions,” he told the Manila Standard.
“Under the present LTFRB setup, its chairman and three board members are the ones handling the cases. They are already loaded with so much administrative work. That could be one of the reasons for the delays in the case resolution,” he said.
He lamented about the LTFRB’s case backlog, citing the complaint of the supposed overcharging of the ride-hailing Grab Philippines is still pending since January.
“The case was submitted for resolution in January. Why is it that there is still no resolution six months after?” he asked.
Inton is a former LTFRB board member and Quezon City councilor.
“Cases are still being heard on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only.
How can you expect an expeditious resolution?” he questioned.
The integration of the transport adjudicators into the LTFRB would not cost the government an additional budget appropriation, he said, adding lawyers from its Legal Department could assume the function to resolve cases.
“It is really the legal department that reviews and drafts the board’s decision under the setup. The board may only act on appealed cases should transport adjudicators be adopted,” Inton said.
