The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Wednesday bared that fixers preying on transport operators have resorted to name-dropping tactic of top transport officials as new modus in plying their trade.
The DOTr and LTFRB’s revelation came on the heels of a letter sent to the LTFRB by the Liga ng Transportasyon at Operators sa Pilipinas (LTOP), supported by LTOP Board Resolution No. 10-24/2018.
The group served notice to authorities and the general public on the activities of a certain Joseph Z. Abeleda, a former LTOP member who, together with a certain Robert Bacuyag and a Regevie Capalac, has been using the name of DOTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and LTFRB Chairman Martin B. Delgra III to convince transport operators to pay for the preparation of a technical survey and a route survey, as requirements for applying for franchises under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program process.
In their letter and board resolution, LTOP alleged that Abeleda and his group have been name-dropping Tugade and Delgra, and claiming “payola” involving millions of pesos purportedly delivered to the Office of the DOTr secretary (DOTr) and the Office of the LTFRB chairman. Abeleda and his group would then charge transport operators thousands of pesos to produce the so-called technical survey and route survey.
Abeleda has been disowned by LTOP in light of his illegal activities with some resulting in criminal cases of “estafa” filed against him. Several members of a certain transport cooperative have previously attested under oath that Abeleda collected P30,000 of cooperative funds from them as payment for road rationalization evaluation and demographic engineering survey, with an assurance that they will be given franchises under the PUVMP with the help of his alleged connection inside DOTr and LTFRB.
Meanwhile, a separate anonymous letter accused Abeleda and his group of playing “protectors” of colorum transport vehicles plying the Montalban to Cubao route, and that the group allegedly pays off LTFRB officials with P3,000 a month as protection money.
Both Secretary Tugade and Chairman Delgra, in a news statement, disowned any connection with Abeleda and his group. The officials have also strongly condemned the use of their names in this criminal activity.