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MANILA - Former employees of the defunct government-controlled Pantranco North Express Inc. said the 489 bus franchises are "active," belying claims made by five bus companies that opposed the transfer and sale of the permits.
"Their attempts to nullify the LTFRB order are self-serving and intended to promote their self-interests, and will ultimately deprive us of our rights to our lawful claims," Lourdes Sta. Maria, spokesperson of Pantranco Employees Association and Pantranco Retrenched Employees Association said in a statement..
Last year, the two associations sold the franchises to a private buyer after the Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board awarded the permits to them and secured approval from the National Labor Relations Commission to compensate more than 2,000 retrenched employees.
In a telephone interview, Sta. Maria said the 489 bus permits that were sold are "active" and not dead franchises. She said there is nothing illegal about the sale and transfer of franchises.
"These claims of other bus companies, who are now contesting and have written the good office of DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas, are not only unjustified, but ridiculous," she said.
In a letter to Roxas, five bus companies - GV Florida Bus Lines, Dagupan Bus Lines, Saulog Transit, Partas and Baliwag Transit - sought a probe into the resurrection of the franchises of Pantranco and their award to companies owned by the Hernandez family. The 489 franchises cover routes between Metro Manila and Central and North Luzon.
"The LTFRB and the DOTC have merely implemented a lawful order on behalf of the thousands of our members, most of whom are already in their twilight years. In fact, some of our number have already passed on without ever realizing the fruits of their hard-won legal victory," Sta. Maria said.
The complainants alleged that the LTFRB distributed the 489 bus franchises to retrenched workers of Pantranco, who in turn handed over the same permits to five other bus companies – Pangasinan Five Star, Victory Liner, Bataan Transit, First North Luzon Bus Co. and Luzon Cisco Transport – all of which are supposedly owned by the Hernandez family.
“The award of the dead franchises also sets back the expected shift to governing paradigm of integrity, accountability, and honesty in the various agencies and instrumentalities of government which was the general call at the conclusion of the impeachment trial,” the complainants’ letter read.
Citing a DOTC Memorandum to LTFRB dated July 23, 1996 as well as LTFRB Memorandum Circular 2010-034, the complainants said the Pantranco permits couldn’t be sold or transferred to other parties after they expired in 1993.
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