THE chairman of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has resigned.

LTFRB Chairman Nelson Laluces is the fifth official from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) who quit from his post following the resignation of former Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus.

Laluces, in his resignation letter, said he decided to step down to give new Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas a free hand in choosing his desired LTFRB head.

“Today, we have formally received the courtesy resignation of LTFRB Chairman Laluces. Since it is courtesy resignation, Chairman Laluces will continue to head and manage the operations of the LTFRB to ensure the continuous services of the agency. I thank him for his graciousness,” said Roxas in a statement.

 “It is worth noting that Laluces and all other heads of line agencies and attached agencies—myself included—work at the pleasure of the President. The gesture of Laluces is proof that the current crop of presidential appointees have nothing but pure service in mind. We can only admire his values and his work ethic,” Roxas said.

At Malacañang, officials said on Tuesday the resignation of Laluces was not related to so-called factions in the administration.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda made the clarification when asked to comment on reports that Laluces reportedly resigned as he is supposedly from the Samar faction which supported Vice President Jejomar Binay in the last elections.

“The statement of Chairman Laluces is pretty straightforward. He wants to give [Transportation] Secretary Mar Roxas a free hand in selecting his own people,” Lacierda said.

An industry source said Laluces was apparently asked to resign as “he’s not doing a good job” at the LTFRB.