JUNE 13, 2015

NR # 3862

Probe on the phase out of aging school transport services sought

A lawmaker has asked Congress to investigate the phasing out of aging school transport
service vehicles by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), which may
affect 700,000 school children and displace 65,000 service workers nationwide.
In House Resolution 2102, ABAKADA Rep. Jonathan A. Dela Cruz questioned the reported
haphazard, whimsical and undue haste in the implementation by LTFRB of Memo Circular 2013006, which banned the operation of all school transport vehicles that are 15 years old starting January
this year.
Dela Cruz said the National Alliance of School Service Associations of the Philippines
(NASSAP) under the alliance of concerned Transport Organization (ACTO) has appealed to LTFRB
chairman Winston Ginez to give them one year to replace the school transport vehicles but their pleas
fell on deaf ears.
The one-year moratorium would have given members of NASSAP, all of whom are legitimate
franchise holders of school transport services, to purchase brand new vehicles using loans from some
financing units of the government, Dela Cruz said quoting NASSAP-ACTO Board Resolution No.
15-001.
The Cleaner Public Transport Financing Program under the Development Bank of the
Philippines has just started processing loans to school service operators and hopefully complete the
processing within a year, the NASSAP-ACTO board resolution said.
According to Dela Cruz, the government is mandated to provide safe and affordable school
service to students in both public and private schools, the need for which has been increasing over
the years as a result of the unprecedented rise in two breadwinner households and the countrys
chaotic land transport system.
The said service concern has been filled up by a number of school service transport
operators, the biggest of which is the NASSAP-ACTO, which counts with 30,000 members
nationwide employing no less than 60,000 workers, Dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz said with LTFRBs memo circular, 30,000 school transport vehicles would have
been non-operational by the end of May, putting in a harms way close to 700,000 students being
serviced and displacing 60,000 workers nationwide.
NASSAP-ACTO is not against the modernization program of the government but just asking
LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez to defer the implementation of the age limit for one year to find a
way for down payments for new units, Dela Cruz said, quoting NASSAP-ACTOs board resolution.
Dela Cruz said given the grave consequences of LTFRBs memo circular, there is a need for
the House Committees on Transportation and Basic Education and Culture to intervene at the soonest
time possible to stave off the possibility of chaos especially now that the classes have already started.
(30) mrs