The Land Transportation Office has slammed an agreement among the mayors of Sibulan, Dumaguete, and Bacong to allow their tricycles to freely enter and do business in each other’s boundaries.
In a meeting last Thursday at Robinson’s Mall Dumaguete, the chief of the LTO Legal Services Division, Edgar Cabase Sr., said such an agreement cannot be a subject of a compromise. In legal parlance, it is ultra vires.
Local government units give franchises to tricycles. In essence, the franchise allows the tricycles to operate only within the boundaries of the LGU that gave the franchise. Therefore, no tricycle may operate outside its own place. Hence, Dumaguete tricycles may not enter Sibulan to deliver or collect passengers at the Dumaguete-Sibulan Airport.
The prohibition of tricycles from going beyond their boundaries is also intended to safeguard the passenger, as the insurance for the passengers of the tricycle unit is not valid outside its own territory. Should a tricycle driver from Sibulan meet an accident in Dumaguete which would result in the death or disability of its passenger, no insurance company can be expected pay damages to the passenger or his next of kin.
The entry of tricycles from Sibulan and Bacong has increased the number of tricyles in Dumaguete by 200 even as there are already 2,500 tricycles operating legally in Dumaguete.
Of course, tricycle drivers in Dumaguete may complain of low income due to the undue competition posed by these tricycles from outside of Dumaguete.
And to top it all, the LTO has revealed that out of the 2500 tricycles in Dumaguete, only 1200 drivers of these are actually Dumaguete residents. The rest live outside of Dumaguete and thus, do not pay taxes in the City.
The LTO action puts Dumaguete drivers at an advantage. This would mean they will have more opportunities to earn as their competition will have dwindled by 200 tricycles.
On the other side of the coin, this puts the tricycle drivers from Sibulan and Bacong at a disadvantage. They will no longer be earning as much as they used to. Unless their respective mayors will think of alternative means of livelihood for these drivers, they could be tempted to engage in illegal activities.
