• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Transport group Piston and its legal representatives trooped to the Supreme Court to file a supplemental motion seeking to expedite the decision on their earlier petition for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the PUV modernization program’s franchise consolidation deadline on Dec. 31.
This as the SC ordered the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Dec. 28 to comment on the Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition with Urgent Application for a TRO and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction filed against them by public utility jeepney operators and transport groups, led by Piston, within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice.
Petitioners Modesto Floranda of Piston, Edwin Mabazza, Jason Fajilagutan, Gaylord Despuez of Bayan Muna, Edrich John Samonte of Para-Advocates for Inclusive Transport, Elmer Forro of No to PUV Phaseout Coalition, and Ma. Flora-May Cerna of Komyut filed the petition Dec. 19 seeking to enjoin the enforcement and declare the nullity of several DOTr and LTFRB issuances.
These include the Omnibus Guidelines on the Planning and Identification of Public Road Transportation Services and Franchise Issuance; Consolidation of Franchise Holders in Compliance with Department Order No. 2017-011, or the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines; Simplified Process for Applications for Consolidation of Individual and Existing Franchise Holders in Compliance with the PUVMP and the OFG; Extension of Time to File Application for Consolidation Pursuant to Industry Consolidation of PUVMP;
Guidelines for the Issuance of Provisional Authority to Units of Individual Operators with Pending Application for Consolidation and Those That Failed to File an Application for Consolidation Pursuant to the OFG and the Procedure in the Qualification and Selection of Applicants; Guidelines for the Acceptance of Application for Consolidation; and Allowing the Operations of Consolidated Transport Services Entities in All Routes with Filed Applications for Consolidation on or before Dec. 31, 2023.
In the supplemental motion, the petitioners “pray for the immediate issuance of a TRO to prevent the grave and irreparable injury that the petitioners, the jeepney drivers and operators, their families, the commuters and the public in general will suffer”, Piston said in a statement Dec. 29.
“The world will not end if (the SC) will restrain the assailed orders’ implementation during the short period that the Court is considering the petition. However, millions of drivers, operators and their families, as well as commuters all over the country will experience a severe impact on their income and livelihood should the franchise of thousands of PUV operators be cancelled on Jan. 1, 2024,” it added. | CGC
