An open letter to the city council
Pardon me sirs, but I happen to believe that the passage recently by the city council of Resolutions 575, 576, 577, 578, and 580 all pertaining to Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Resolution 117, s. of 2020 issued pursuant to its Memorandum Circular (MC) 2019-016 is an overkill of the issue on whether or not Baguio will similarly allow the 200-unit taxi franchise applications allowed by LTFRB for Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet under MC 2019-016.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong, represented by the City Legal Office, has filed an opposition with the LTFRB-CAR questioning and objecting to these so-called additional taxi franchises, and requesting the recall of MC 2019-016 and Resolution 117-2020 of the Board and the denial of the certificate of public convenience (CPC) applications filed pursuant thereof, particularly invoking pertinent resolutions previously passed by the council.
To me, the opposition by the good mayor in behalf of the city should have been a sufficient action to pursue the cause of the city on the issue. The passage of the recent resolutions only evinced the lack of precise understanding by the city, represented by the city council and the city mayor, of the rationale and intent why MC 2019-016 and Resolution 117-2020 were promulgated by the LTFRB en banc, as well as the circumstances and reasons why constituent applicants therein have filed CPC applications, notwithstanding the very stringent legal and financial requirements imposed by the board en banc.
Nonetheless, since a written discussion on the subject will prove lengthy and tedious now and this letter may not allow it, I will just be hoping the city council would give me an audience or invite me in one of its Monday sessions, for the purpose.
As I see it, MC 2019-016 and its adjunct resolution were validly issued and that as an exception to the moratorium were not violative of the existing MC 2019-016 and other memorandum circulars, as claimed. — JAMES S. VALEROS, Baguio City