TWO officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board are at loggerheads over the application for accreditation of another app-based car service which is “a 100 percent Filipino-owned corporation.”
In an interview, LTFRB board member Ariel Enrile Inton Jr. on Wednesday challenged Chairman Winston Ginez for figuring out that the memorandum letter they recently sent to Transportation and Communications Secretary Emilio Joseph Abaya was an “order or a [board] resolution denying the accreditation application of U-Hop [Transport Network Vehicle System].”
“I do not understand why the chairman posted on his Twitter account the alleged denial of U-Hop accreditation. We wrote the Secretary to tell him that the requirements under Department Order 2015-011 would not apply to U-Hop’s application. We even recommended to the Secretary to open a new category to be able to accommodate U-Hop,” Inton told The Standard.
He said Ginez has misinformed U-Hop and the public for “making it appear that U-Hop’s application was denied.”
“What made him interpret that our letter to the Department of Transportation and Communications is an order or a board resolution, otherwise, it should contain a board resolution number; should be addressed to U-Hop, and not to the Secretary, and should contain an order, and not a recommendation,” he added.
Ginez’s tweets fueled confusion and negative reactions from the netizens, according to Inton.
“I, the chairman and another board member, Ronaldo Corpus, signed the letter. It was just a mere letter. But he [Ginez] is insisting it is a decision. It is very clear what the board signed is a memorandum letter addressed to the DOTC secretary,” he said.
While Corpus continued to stay away from the issue, Inton said he will not remain silent and will speak out his mind.
Both LTFRB officials conducted separate inspections of several bus terminals and random drug testing among bus drivers in Metro Manila in preparation for the “Undas” exodus traffic.
Ginez, however, said he will stand by his principle.
“Well, he [Enrile Inton] is entitled to his own opinion. I will not comment any further. The official statement of the chairman stands,” he told The Standard.
