The Committee on Transportation and Traffic convened today with Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo and other key officials to formulate guidelines and procedures for the effective implementation of the ordinance granting Motorcabs-for-Hire Franchise outside Dumaguete City.
Vice-Mayor Karissa Tolentino, who presided this afternoon’s meeting, noted that there are inquiries on how the ordinance will be implemented and set a uniform guidelines that would address their concerns.
Also present during the meeting are Councilor Michael Bandal, Liga ng mga Barangay President Dionie Amores, City Legal Officer Manuel Arbon and Sectoral Desk Officer Albert Aquino.
The salient points discussed for possible inclusion in the procedures when issuing franchises are:
1. Mayor Remollo would require all drivers to get vaccinated first as a requirement in the issuance of a franchise and to prioritize those drivers and operators who are most in need of it, not the operators alone.
2. The Motorized Tricycle Operation Permit (MTOP) form issued by the Permit Section in which a color is assigned per municipality and uniform stickers are provided to those granted with dual franchises for easy identification.
3. The franchises to be assigned to drivers from other municipalities will be taken from those that were revoked, expired, not renewed or from owners with more than 5 franchises. In this manner, the number of franchises in the city will remain at 2, 500 instead of adding 200 more (100-Sibulan, 50-Bacong, and 50-Valencia) to cater for the new dual franchises.
4. There is a need to set up a functional adjudication committee to determine if the applicants qualify for renewal or dual franchise and to adopt penalties for violations.