NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.

Transport groups will have a dialogue with top regional officials of the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB)-7 to thresh out issues, some of which have been lingering since pre-Covid period.

Gov. Art Yap has arranged the dialogue through LTFRB-7 Regional Director Eduardo Montealto Jr. to be conducted this week to help alleviate the difficult situations of the duly registered public transports at this time of the pandemic.  

The governor noted that same pre-Covid issues still haunt the transport groups in Bohol and the community quarantine protocols made it more difficult for the operators to confront them.

Topping the problems is the processing of their franchise that needs to be in Cebu, because LTFRB has no satellite office here.

Also, being competed by colorum vehicles operating on their routes make it more difficult for operators of duly registered public transport units to break even with operation costs now with reduced trips, owing to the community quarantine.

The operators whom the governor met last week aired out that it is unfair for the colorum operators to be tolerated up to the present, while they religiously bear the burden of paying for their franchise and other government requirements.

The transport groups also want some routes defined and more routes to be opened to give them alternative opportunities amid the pandemic.

These are among the issues that Yap will help bridge the Bohol transport groups with LTFRB.

Last week, the governor brokered the meeting of the public transport groups with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to thresh out problems in the online system of LTO that put the transport operators to inconvenience in processing their papers.

On the other hand, the governor had a meeting with DOT-7 Regional Director Shalimar Tamano, Grace Dalisay of the SB Corp, and Angelie Salgados of  DOLE to discuss some means to provide financial aid to displaced workers- -most of them in the transport sector- -especially those who had not yet received any assistance from the national government.