THE ongoing drive of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to reduce the number of buses plying Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) by going after colorum and out-of-line buses is doomed to fail, unless government agencies involved in the franchising, regulation and registration of the public-utility vehicles get their act together.

Transport industry sources and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) insiders said the proliferation of illegal buses and jeepneys plying not only Edsa in Metro Manila, but even provincial routes, is the result of a highly lucrative scheme at the LTFRB involving agency insiders, lawyers and fixers.

The scheme involves the revival of long “dead” or expired franchises without registered units, which the original grantees have abandoned and not operated.

These franchises are expired certificates of public convenience, which are being peddled at P100,000 per unit to those who want to have their own franchises without having to go through the legal process of proving their qualifications.

An example of a “dead” franchise that is being revived, through the scheme of hearing a petition to approve its sale to a transferee, is the long-expired Pantranco North Express CPC.

The Pantranco franchise, which expired 15 years ago, involves 783 units authorized on 128 provincial routes from several points in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon to Metro Manila.

Last year the Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines (Pboap) wrote LTFRB Chairman Thompson Lantion and the two board members, Ellen Cabatu and Gerardo Pinili, objecting to the hearing of the sale of the expired Pantranco franchise to a transferee.

The Pboap pointed out that three former transportation secretaries upheld the stand of former LTFRB chairman Dante Lantin against the revival of the expired Pantranco franchise.

The Pboap added that the revival of an expired franchise is violative of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Aside from the expired Pantranco franchise, there are other expired bus franchises that may be revived in violation not only of the Public Service Act but also of the LTFRB’s own memorandum circulars.

An expired franchise involving more than 600 units on several routes in the Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions may soon be revived, according to Southern Luzon bus operators, is the Batangas-Laguna-Tayabas Bus Co. franchise.

BLTB was the biggest bus company in Southern Luzon until it stopped operations owing to bankruptcy several years ago.

LTFRB insiders say that it is not only expired franchises that are being revived but also franchise applications that have been considered abandoned because the applicants have not prosecuted their applications for years, are being revived and turned to instant franchises without hearing.

The “instant franchises” are peddled to operators who want to legalize the operation of their “colorum” buses.

Settlers get 300 housing units from Hanjin

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Amid the controversy over the construction by Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. (HHIC-Phil) of an apartment complex, the South Korean investor silently turned over some 300 housing units to families affected by its shipyard-expansion program at the Redondo Peninsula here.

OPPOSING Malacañang’s call to the House of Representatives to review the baselines bill, a proadministration legislator dared his colleagues to “do what is right and put the Kalayaan Island Group inside the country’s baseline.”

A SENIOR House leader has joined the Philippine Association of Independent Power Producers (Pippa) in its demand to strip the National Power Corp. (Napocor) the right to procure coal and oil under the proposed measure to amend the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).

THE Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., is trying to strike a bargain with some of the 28 military officers accused of mutiny over still unknown reasons, a defense lawyer said on Thursday.

THE ongoing drive of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to reduce the number of buses plying Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) by going after colorum and out-of-line buses is doomed to fail, unless government agencies involved in the franchising, regulation and registration of the public-utility vehicles get their act together.

CITY OF MALOLOS—Here’s good news to public servants who are willing to give their best to improve the lives of their constituents.

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Lito Atienza is confident that the Investment Defense Force (IDF) that Malacañang has activated will address security concerns being raised by both local and foreign mining investors following recent attacks in some of the mining projects in the Philippines.

WITH an expected influx of about 12 million passengers this year, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) has accepted a donation of 1,500 baggage trolleys and 12 “jumbo” carts to add to an existing 1,500, hoping that this would be enough to prevent the shortage of pushcarts during peak arrivals and departures.