Metro Briefs: Oct. 25, 2018
LTFRB: Report overcharging UV Express drivers
There will be a crackdown on UV Express drivers who overcharge their passengers, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chair Martin Delgra III said on Wednesday.
“We are now preparing for an inspection insofar as the UV Express is concerned and … we’re going to operate in certain areas where there are reported overcharging of fares,” Delgra said in a Palace press briefing.
He asked UV Express operators to charge only the proper fare rates or face sanctions.
Passengers who want to file a complaint against overcharging drivers could send it to the LTFRB through its social media accounts, he said.
At Tuesday’s hearing on a fare hike petition filed by UV Express operators plying routes in Marikina and Makati, the LTFRB learned that some of them had been overcharging since 2007.
Article continues after this advertisementUsing the base rate of P2 per km, the LTFRB said each passenger should pay a fare of P50, not P60, for an end-to-end trip covering 25 km.
Article continues after this advertisementThe operators want a P1.25 per km provisional increase in the minimum fare. —Leila B. Salaverria
Airline transfers pave way for Naia 2 decongestion
Four international airlines will transfer their flights from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 by Jan. 1, officials said on Wednesday.
Qantas Airways and United Airlines will move their operations to Terminal 3 by Oct. 28, while Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines will relocate by Dec. 1 and Jan. 1, respectively.
The transfers are the first steps in a long-overdue bid to ease congestion at Terminal 2, which was not designed for bigger carriers, according to Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal.
He added that Philippine Airlines (PAL) international flights flying out of Terminal 2, particularly those bound for the United States, will take the place of airlines transferring out of Terminal 1.
PAL will also transfer some of its domestic flights from Terminal 3 to 2.
“This is to lessen the stress on Terminal 2 in terms of international operations,” said Monreal, who cited the long lines at immigration counters whenever flights arrive simultaneously.
He added that some smaller airlines were also in talks to move from Terminal 1 to 3.
Supposed to start on Aug. 31, the transfers were postponed by the Department of Transportation due to “unforeseen operational constraints.”
The move will coincide with the P606-million rehabilitation of Naia Terminal 2 which will be done by sections for over a year. —Matthew Reysio-Cruz
4 siblings tagged in QC car theft fall
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said it had busted a car theft group composed of three brothers and their young sister.
On Tuesday night, siblings Alex, Joel, Francis and Jane Baccay were arrested in Barangay Calumpang in Binangonan, Rizal province, after the QCPD acted on a complaint from Avelino Sarmiento, who reported the theft of his silver Mitsubishi Canter earlier that day while it was parked on Matapat Street, Barangay Pinyahan.
Witnesses told police that, prior to the theft, a gold Toyota Corolla was seen making several passes in the area.
Sightings of the same car cropped up in earlier carnapping incidents in Quezon City, the QCPD said.
A police operation located the Corolla as it was parked in Barangay Calumpang and cornered the four siblings near a local church.
The suspects then confessed that they had already sold Sarmiento’s Canter and that it was being kept in a warehouse in Santa Cruz, Manila.
A follow-up operation found the Canter and ended in the arrest of a fifth suspect, Jaime Baluis, 50, who was caught in possession of the vehicle’s detached engine and chassis. —Jhesset O. Enano
