LTFRB rollback order triggers chaos

"The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has only allowed chaos among the riding public and the drivers because of its instant directive for a rollback to old fare rates." Thus said Jessie Ortega of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC).

The July 2 order of the LTFRB only resulted in confusion, with drivers and passengers at loggerheads on what the rollback actually means.

There must have been something wrong with Elena Bautista’s order to revert to the status quo. Drivers thought it meant going ahead with the first five- or four-kilometer hike but scaling down the fare for every kilometer thereafter.

Rodolfo Divinagracia of the Negros Daily Bulletin traced the confusion to LTFRB’s Bautista reverting the fare to the old figure rather than the amended fare they have been asking for.

It may be recalled that the local transport groups, notably UNDOC and the Federation of Bacolod Drivers Associations, took slightly different views on the issue. In short, both groups and others diverged only in the starting P5.50 for the first hike and had slightly changed versions of how much to charge commuters per kilometer thereafter.

Ortega admitted that the situation is "chaotic (for) passengers and drivers because of the irregular order of the LTFRB."

LTFRB regional director Porfirio Clavel begged off from taking action on the issue. He is waiting instead for the order from the LTFRB.

"We were the ones who asked for an increase, now we are being asked to return to the old rate. Ano kami mga bata diotay (Are they treating us like babies)? We were caught by surprise by the order," Ortega said.

He also appealed to the riding public to look at the problem of the jeepney drivers. "We had already asked for a scaling down of the increased rates," Ortega stressed.

"We can only adjust the succeeding kilometer to 57 centavos but not the minimum charge of P5 or P5.50," he said.

The drivers intend to "really request for a scaled-down rate increase." But Ortega pointed out that the LTFRB muddled the situation.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon expressed alarm over the situation. He said this amounts to a virtual breakdown of law and order.

"The leadership should be very strong so that the confidence of the people in government can be restored," he stressed.

Three members of the Sangguniang Panlunsod of Bacolod – councilors Dindo Ramos, Greg Gasataya and Lyndon Cana – filed an urgent motion for a clarificatory order and adoption of a provisional matrix pending the issuance of the final LTFRB fare rate hike.

They asked that provisionally the matrix set the rate at P5.50 for the first five kilometers and 57 centavos for every succeeding kilometer.

The trio also stressed that the rollback to the old rate has resulted in injustice for the public utility operators and drivers because it prevented them from recovering their costs of fuel, spare parts and rentals (boundaries).

The lack of uniformity among local drivers due to the absence of a formal order from the LTFRB has spawned altercations between drivers and commuters.

Keep Ledesma At SRA — Sugarmen

The Philippine Sugar Alliance is asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to keep James Ledesma as administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

This was revealed last Monday by Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippine (UNIFED), and National Federation of Sugarcane Planters’ Enrique Rojas. Joel Lopa, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (CONFED), has kept his mouth shut. Ledesma comes from the CONFED group.

It is significant, however, that this is one time when all the component affiliates of the Philippine Sugar Alliance – planters, millers and traders – seem united in paying their tribute to Ledesma who "has sacrificed so much for the sake of the sugar industry."

The PSA said they completely trust in Ledesma’s leadership and that he will continue the good work he has done to sustain the gains achieved by the industry.

In a formal letter to the President, the group also congratulated her for getting a fresh mandate to serve the Filipino people.

"We truly believe that you are our last hope. Please be assured, Madam President, that the sugar industry will be fully supportive of your programs for the industry in particular and the agricultural sector in general," the PSA said.

Sugar Order No. 10

Meanwhile, Ledesma released yesterday the details of Sugar Order No. 10, issued June 23, setting aside 100,000 metric tons of the expected 2.3-million production as "D" or world sugar. The SRA, he said, will allow the stocks to be exported to the world market from August to December this year.

He also authorized that all outstanding "A" (US market) and "B" (domestic) sugar (raw/refined regular and swapped) issued during CY 2003-2004 be allowed on a voluntary basis for advance swapping into "D" or world market sugar.

The SRA will lien P2.50 per LKG of the swapped sugar.

Replenishment of the "B" sugar with "D" of CY 2004/2005 shall be on April 1, 2005, while the "A" sugar can be replenished as the "D" sugar is produced and allocated, the sugar order stressed.

This move, Ledesma explained, is the only "doable" way to address the problem of oversupply of sugar. The world market price of sugar is now equivalent to P450 per LKG. While producers will lose in the transaction, however, the removal of such a huge stock of supply is also expected to balance the ratio between supply and demand. Thus, it is expected to boost the domestic millgate prices of sugar, especially with the start of the milling season in August or September.

DAR Seminar For Judges

There are a lot of mutterings against the agrarian reform department’s seminar for local judges. One of the Negros landowners, Mario Villanueva Jr., wrote a special appeal to President Arroyo complaining about the seemingly arbitrary disregard by Undersecretary Rolando Mangulabnan of an RTC writ that barred the entry into his farm of "bogus" farmer-beneficiaries" purportedly under the Task Force Mapalad.

The permanent farm hands of Villanueva assailed the undersecretary’s move, pointing out that they have been tilling the hacienda for some 20 years.

Villanueva stressed that the family is not against CARP, pointing out that they had already given up 400 hectares of their property in Murcia and their 150 hectares in La Castellana.

Valuation Scandal

>But a new scandal broke out in Dumaguete. This time, the Commission on Human Rights, according to Juancho Gallarde of the Visayan Daily STAR, is asking for a congressional inquiry into the alleged overvaluation of the 480-hectare Belen-Locsin Estate in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental.

CHR field investigator Jose Canete included in his appeal for a legislative inquiry former and present DAR and Land Bank of the Philippines officials who he alleged were involved in the anomaly.

Originally, according to Canete, the 480 hectares were offered by its former owners, Belin Locsin and the Sapniso heirs, for P12 million under the Voluntary Offer to Sell Program.

In January 1998, then Landbank agrarian specialist Ramon Pabro told the farmer-beneficiaries that the owners had raised the value from P12 million to P36 million reportedly because 220 hectares were planted to sugarcane and 40 hectares to coconuts.

The beneficiaries contested the increased valuation, denying the existence of the sugarcane fields and coconut plantation. They also filed a protest but were reportedly told by Pabro that their installation as CLOA holders would be delayed and would lead to another re-evaluation.

The farmers agreed to withdraw their protest. But while waiting for the promised ocular inspection, they were again told that the value of the land was increased to P36 million because of the "by-products of the 220 hectares of sugarcane fields and 40 hectares of coconut plantation."

CHR regional director Alejandro Alonso Jr. recommended the filing of anti-graft charges against Pabro, former provincial agrarian reform officer Jess Kabristante, PARO Stephen Leonidas, Bais City Comelec officer Rafael Orillana, Romeo Binasahan, Pacificio Quindo (DAR operations), Johnson Sinco (DAR legal), Arnulfa Japin and businessman Eduardo Du.

All eyes are now focused on the agrarian reform case. It seems that the CARP remains a controversial issue. And the top DAR officials should spend more time reviewing their past actuations even as more landowners complain that they have yet to receive their payments from the Landbank for the farms they had voluntarily offered to sell.