A firefighter trains his hose at a window of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) office at the North Reclamation Area, Cebu that caught fire pre-dawn on Sunday, Oct. 217, 2019. |CDND Photo/Raul Tabanao
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) will no longer suspend its operation despite the fire that engulfed the second floor of its office at the North Reclamation Area (NRA) in Cebu City at dawn on Sunday, October 27.
Engineer Eduardo Montealto, Jr., the director of the LTFRB-7, told CDN Digital by phone that they have to continue their operation in a temporary office because they are expecting an influx of special permits applications from jeepney operators who will want to ply another route for the holidays on November 1 and 2.
He said they have not processed a single permit in the past weeks, and they will have to accommodate the applicants in time for the celebration of All Saints and All Souls Day, or Kalag-kalag.
Montealto said they are now coordinating with a mall in the NRA to accommodate them while LTFRB-7’s fire-damaged and water-soaked office undergoes renovation.
Some other divisions of LTFRB-7 will be housed at the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) office in the meantime, he added.
Since the fire left the second floor of the regional office in ruins while the equipment and documents in the first floor have been water-damaged, the processing of permits will have to be done manually in the next few weeks.
This means that the processing of permits, which takes an average of four permits in 30 minutes, may take twice the normal time to be processed.
Montealto appealed to applicants for the special permit for Kalag-kalag routes for patience.
“Kaya ra gyud na mahuman tanang permits, paninguhaon na namo. Mohinay lang gamay pero mahuman gyud na. (We can finish processing all permits; we will work on that. It will be slower, but we can do it),” said Montealto.
He also reminded operators that not all permits will be approved since only about a fourth of jeepneys plying the same routes can get a permit to travel to another route.
This is to ensure that regular routes within Metro Cebu will not be affected while their assigned jeepneys take to other routes.
Montealto, at the same time, warned applicants not to engage the services of fixers who will take advantage of the fire at the LTFRB-7 office.
He also stressed that LTFRB-7 is not soliciting money from anyone, and the public should be careful of anyone asking for money in the name of LTFRB-7.
The LTFRB-7 office will undergo rewiring and renovation before they can resume operation there. However, Montealto said they also plan to move to a new office at E. Chavez Street, Cebu City in May next year at a new building that is now under construction./elb