Following the show cause order issued by the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) against the Lahug Apas Transport Cooperative (Latransco) for the alleged reckless driving of one of their modern jeepney drivers, a hearing was conducted on November 8, Wednesday. | CDN File photo by Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Following the show cause order issued by the Land Transportation Office in Central Visayas (LTO-7) against the Lahug Apas Transport Cooperative (Latransco) for the alleged reckless driving of one of their modern jeepney drivers, a hearing was conducted on November 8, Wednesday.
According to an earlier report, the show cause order stemmed from a complaint posted by netizen Noynay Karina Romano, after her six-year-old child was injured during the incident on October 30, 2023.
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Senior citizens got off transport co-op bus
“Ang mga senior citizens sad nanaug na lang pud apil way batasan nga driver…nagtoo guro cya nga dli namo tinud on namo,” Romano wrote.
(The senior citizens also got off together with us because of the disrespectful driver … he could have believed that we will not act on this.)
Based on the Facebook post of Romano, the driver of the modern jeepney was driving fast while they were on board, then immediately hit the brake, which resulted in her child’s injury.
The child’s mother asked the driver to be liable for the incident, but the driver reportedly told them to talk with his management.
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With this, the agency asked the management of Latransco to provide a written comment or explanation on why the driver/operator should not be administratively charged and why the driver’s license should not be suspended or revoked in connection with the incident.
On Wednesday at 11 a.m., the involved modern jeepney driver appeared together with some staff from Latransco including a staff from the human resources department and the information technology (IT) staff.
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Father of child present
Meanwhile, the father of the injured child was also present on Wednesday.
Based on the initial investigation of the LTO-7’s Operations Division, the father of the child told the agency that it was normal to report the incident to the agency because his child was not entertained when the child got injured.
For their side, the management of the modern jeepney alleged that the parent was caught in the closed-circuit television (CCTV), not holding their child when the driver stepped on the brake.
Furthermore, as the initial investigation went through on Wednesday, the operations division of LTO-7 asked the modern jeepney driver if he was aware of the actions he made last October 30, especially for his responsibility when untoward incidents or emergencies happen.
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Transport co-op’s driver’s reaction
The LTO-7 asked if he attended the seminars for the drivers conducted by the LTO and LTFRB, and he said yes.
Moreover, the agency also reminded the driver on the importance of having a conductor or an assistant in collecting passenger fares during the trip.
The driver said that he did not have a conductor to help him collect the fares during that time because the conductor was on leave because of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
With this, LTO reminded him of the importance of conductors to ensure the safety of the passengers in occasions when the driver would be busy or could not cater to them.
The LTO also reminded him of the “right of way” and that it is not safe to transfer lanes when there is not enough distance for the driver to change lanes.
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Surrender driver’s license
On the initial investigation on Wednesday, the operations division asked the modern jeepney driver to surrender his driver’s license, and advised him to bring a copy of his OR/CR.
Moreover, since the incident involved a franchising company, the LTO referred the operator to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in Central Visayas (LTFRB-7) for ‘franchising-related violations.’
LTFRB-7 Director Eduardo Montealto Jr. informed the LTO-7 that they already summoned Lantransco for this matter, hence, the LTO-7 did not touch the franchise matter.
The scheduled hearing between Latransco and the LTFRB-7 will be on November 14, Tuesday, to investigate the matter.
Montealto said in a separate interview via phone that he asked the LTO-7 to furnish them a copy of the resolution of the hearing because they were not aware that the LTO also issued a show cause order.
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Double jeopardy
This was to avoid ‘double jeopardy’ for conducting a hearing twice.
“Tagae lang ko’g resolution kay aron dili nato ma dobli kay mo file unya ni sila. Kay ang amoa, dili mani siya sa criminal [charges]. Mahibaw-an ra na nato sa paghearing namo diri,” Montealto said.
(Just give us the resolution so that we will not file twice because they might file. Because ours, these are not criminal [charges]. We will know what it is when we start our hearing here.)
He added that the concerned parent of the child could also attend the hearing.