MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino and his agents flagging down colorum taxis and buses.
Most Filipinos are familiar with the term “colorum”—slang for illegal public land transport in the country.
For the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and its two agencies, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the term “colorum” refers to a franchise violation according to five criteria.
Joint Administrative Order No. 2014-01 issued by the DOTC on 2 June 2014 states that if a private motor vehicle operates as a public utility vehicle (PUV) without proper authority from the LTFRB, it is operating as a colorum vehicle.
But a public utility vehicle (PUV) can also commit a “colorum violation” if it operates “outside its approved route or area without prior permit from the [LTFRB]” or if it operates “outside the exceptions provided under existing memorandum circulars.”
It is also a colorum violation for a PUV to operate differently from its “authorized denomination.” When a PUV is authorized to operate as a school service vehicle, for example, it must only be used as such. It cannot be used to convey passengers like a UV express, or what is commonly referred to as “FX.”
When a PUV continues to operate even when its certificate of public convenience (CPC) is suspended or cancelled and the order of suspension or cancellation is executory, it is also committing a colorum violation.
A PUV operating with an expired CPC without a pending application for extension of validity “timely filed” before the LTFRB is also committing a colorum offense.
There are currently ten classifications of land transportation services that should apply for franchise at the LTFRB: public utility bus, mini bus, public utility jeep, taxi, UV express, tourist transport, shuttle transport, fil cab, school transport, and truck for hire.
Multiplying everywhere
“Colorum vehicles hide behind the color of authority,” said Atty. Mary Ann Salada in an interview with the UP Forum. She is the public information officer at the LTFRB Office of the Chairman.
Explaining further, Salada illustrated how PUVs with proper permits “give birth” to illegal units. “A taxi operator with a CPC for two units, for example, would later on acquire more units but no longer apply for proper authority for the operation of the additional units.
That’s how some of these colorum PUVs misuse the franchise granted by the LTFRB.”
Salada’s post at the agency has allowed her to observe that there is a misconception about land transportation “being a lucrative field.” She sees this misconception as one of the reasons for the proliferation of colorumvehicles in the country. “On the side of operators and drivers, the reason is really financial. They think they will earn a lot if they go into the transportation business.”
Another reason for the continued increase in the number of colorum vehicles plying the streets is the riding public. With the growing number of commuters and their willingness to take illegal public land transport, operators are encouraged to add more colorum vehicles to the streets.
“When it comes to public transport, a commuter is concerned with only two things: availability and convenience. Most of the riding public don’t really care if the taxi, jeep, bus, van, or FX they are getting on is legally allowed to operate. What’s important is they get to their office on time or they get a ride home immediately. And we can’t really blame them,” Salada said.
Commuters do not really report colorum violations. Unfortunately, Salada noted that commuters only file complaints at the LTFRB when something bad happens to them.
By the numbers: Law-abiding vs. violators
As of October 2014, the LTFRB has granted 270,834 franchises to 375,164 units nationwide. And they are not granting any more—unless new applicants have vehicles that use alternative fuel or electricity and “unless ordered by the DOTC.”
Sadly, the LTFRB has no data on the number of colorum vehicles operating in the country. The agency did provide the UP Forum with information on violators apprehended during the joint anti-colorum operation it has been conducting with the LTO.
According to the LTFRB, between 19 June 2014 and 12 January 2015, 74 out of 246 apprehended vehicles committed colorum violations. Some of these colorum violations were on top of other offenses such as driving with an expired driver’s license, tampered license plate, defective brake lights, no headlights, out of line or wrong route, absence of “no smoking” and “PWD” signs, etc.
Present action, future plans
Salada happily reported that the LTFRB has just received the funds that will enable it to hire 145 inspectors across the country.
These inspectors will make sure franchise owners comply with all the requirements for operation—proper documents, proper body markings, authorized and courteous licensed drivers, units with working parts and accessories, appropriate fare charges and discounts, visible fare matrix and persons with disabilities sign, and other franchise conditions.
Additional inspectors will strengthen LTFRB’s capacity to go after violators. Salada told the UP Forum that the agency’s main office currently has only around 20 personnel to monitor and inspect franchise holders while each regional office has between two to four.
While 145 might seem like a small addition, it is still a welcome development, she said.
Asked for an update on the P50-million anti-colorum campaign of the DOTC reported in the last quarter of 2013, Salada said the project is still at the department level and has not gone down to LTFRB yet.
She also shared some of the agency’s plans—stricter implementation of phasing out buses 15 years and older and the conduct of a study on the speed of provincial buses in cooperation with the UP National Center for Transportation Studies and the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute.
As of this writing, the DOTC has released yellow plates for PUVs. These license plates are envisioned to aid in the department’s drive against colorum operations in addition to promoting road safety and decongesting traffic.
What the LTFRB and the country need
A bigger budget, a larger pool of human resources, and increased computerization are the three biggest needs of the LTFRB. “We are maximizing the resources that we have but more is required to improve our operations,” Salada said.
But more than meeting the needs of the government agency mandated “to promulgate, administer, enforce, and monitor compliance of policies, laws, and regulations of public land transportation services,” she says that there is ultimately one thing that will significantly improve Philippine land transportation—the crafting and effective implementation of a comprehensive, rationalized national land transport plan.
“That is what the country really needs. If we can accomplish that, then our land transportation problems will considerably decrease,” she declared.
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Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph.
