DOTC told to study proposal integrating LTO, LTFRB

A senator on Wednesday asked the Department of Transportation and Communication to study a proposal to integrate the two land transportation agencies. Senator Ramon Bong Revilla, head of the Senate committee on public services, said he is giving the DOTC 30 days to study the integration of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). He said the proposal stemmed from the "lack of cooperation" between the two agencies. "Yung coordination ng bawat isa medyo magulo (Coordination within each agency is not good)," he told reporters on Wednesday. The LTO is in charge of the inspection and registration of motor vehicles, issuance of licenses and permits, enforcement of land transportation rules, adjudication of traffic cases, and the collection of revenues for the government. The LTFRB is in charge of the prescription and regulation of routes of service, issuance of permits, prescription of fares and other rates, probe of land transportation-related cases, and the formulation of the rules and regulations on land transportation. Aside from studying the integration proposal, Revilla said he also asked the DOTC to look into public transport franchises so it can limit the increasing number of buses on Metro Manila’s streets. "Siguro yung iba pwede na natin ipadala sa probinsiya dahil sa sobrang traffic na inaabot natin dito sa Metro Manila (Maybe we can send the buses to the provinces and in the process lessen the traffic in Metro Manila)," he said. He likewise said that the DOTC must implement safety rules in light of the recent bus accidents in the country, adding that concerned agencies must not hesitate to cancel the franchises and licenses of operators and drivers found violating the rules. — JE/LBG, GMANews.TV