GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — A group of public utility jeepney operators and drivers on Thursday said they plan to file a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the local government to act on "colorum" or illegal and unregistered tricycles proliferating along national highways.
A mandamus is a judicial writ issued to force a government official or entity to perform a specific public duty or legal obligation.
Public Transport Alliance of GenSan or PTAG Chairman Robert Cang said there are policies that limit and prohibit the operations of tricycles, like the Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2007-001 or the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines and Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code.
“Under the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, tricycles are barred from plying areas and roads that have established PUJ routes,” Cang reportedly said.
According to a provision in Section 4 of the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, “Tricycle operation should only be confined along city or municipal roads, not along national roads and is limited only to routes not traversed by higher modes of public transport."
Tricycles may only be allowed by the local government to use main highways if no alternative routes exist.
City Administrator Arnel Zapatos, however, hopes PTAG would reconsider their plan. He said taking legal action could lead to other problems, like delaying the city's implementation of their Local Public Transportation Route Plan.
“Overall, it will be detrimental to the 473,000 commuters in the city,” Zapatos said.