Overcharging ‘colorum’ taxi driver loses license
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon ordered law enforcement agencies on Monday to go after all drivers and operators of taxi cabs nationwide who overcharge their passengers, whether Filipinos or foreigners, at seaports, airports and other transport hubs.
The directive for the crackdown was given after the driver of a “colorum” (operating illegally without the necessary permits) taxi cab charged a passenger P1,260 for a five-kilometer ride from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Acting on the orders of President Marcos, Dizon told the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), together with police and airport officials, to go after “these taxis that prey on our kababayan and our visitors, charging exorbitant fares.”
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) chief specifically ordered a cleanup targeting the three Naia terminals as he acknowledged the persistent problem of colorum cabs preying on hapless passengers at the country’s main gateway.
“If these taxi drivers do not want to lose in the competition with TNVS (transport network vehicle service), they should shape up and stop their brazen greediness,” Dizon said in a press briefing at the LTO headquarters in Quezon City where he watched the now-viral video of taxi driver Felix Opina overcharging his passenger.
Meter rate
In an interview on GMA News, the woman passenger said that Opina initially agreed to charge her and her companions by the meter for the roughly 20-minute ride from Naia Terminal 3 to Terminal 2.
But upon reaching their destination, the woman said Opina opened a calculator app and charged them P1,260. She added that they haggled to bring the fare down to P1,100 plus P45 for the Naia Expressway toll.
According to her, they were forced to just pay the exorbitant fare since they were in a hurry and did not want miss their flight.
Regular taxi cabs charge a P50 flagdown rate, with an additional P13.50 per kilometer of travel distance and P2 per minute of travel time.
Charging a fixed rate instead of by the meter is illegal under the Public Service Act, with a penalty of a 30-day suspension.
License suspended
According to Dizon, the LTO has suspended Opina’s driving license for now but after an investigation, it will be revoked.
“You will not be able to drive again for a living,” he told the taxi driver. “Sorry for your loss, but you deceived your fellow Filipino,” he added as he warned other overcharging taxi drivers that they would suffer the same fate.
The LTFRB, on the other hand, said it would confiscate the license plates of all 15 colorum Taxi Hub Transport cabs, including the one driven by Opina, after the company’s franchise was found to have expired in March.
LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III added that a show cause order would be issued to the owner, a certain Paige Pauline Bersamina, directing her to explain why she should not be sanctioned for operating colorum taxi cabs.
“All of the 15 taxi units of Taxi Hub have been running colorum for three months. They have a lot of nerve being colorum and still overcharging their passengers,” Dizon said.
“Well, now, you will feel the full force of the law. The entire fleet [of Taxi Hub] will no longer operate again in the future,” he added.
Aside from having their franchise or provisional authority revoked, operators of colorum vehicles shall be fined P120,000 for each colorum taxi, or a total of P1.8 million for the entire 15 cabs in Taxi Hub’s fleet.
In a statement on Sunday, the management of Taxi Hub apologized for the overcharging incident, saying it would offer a full refund and a personal apology to the passenger involved. It added that it was conducting a “thorough investigation into the matter and [we] are taking all necessary steps to ensure due process and accountability.”
Dizon, meanwhile, encouraged the riding public to record videos and post photos on social media of public utility vehicles drivers who overcharge fares to inform other people and to give authorities evidence to go after them.
