The continuous inaction of authorities prompted PUJ operators led by the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations (ACTO) president Efren de Luna and Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (ALTODAP) president Melencio Vargas to dare LTO chief Assistant Secretary Anneli Lontoc to “go out of her air-conditioned office to discover the various mysteries” being done by some unscrupulous LTO employees.

De Luna alleged that the continuous operation of colorum FXs and vans in front of LTO and LTFRB main offices is being protected by some unscrupulous LTO personnel.

“Dapat ay lumabas ng kanyang office si Assistant Secretary Lontoc dahil sa nililinlang na lamang siya ng kanyang mga tauhang enforcers dahil kung sa mismong tapat ng kanyang office ay laganap na ang colorum, lalo lang laganap sa malayong lugar,” De Luna said.

Vargas, for his part, said the inaction of authorities against colorum vehicles has made operators stop relying from them in solving the problem.

“Yun nga ang ipinagtataka namin... kung bakit di nila mahuli ang mga FX na colorum. Kaya nga ako, gumawa ng ‘Bantay-Ruta’ sa mga jeep. Mahirap umasa sa gobyerno, kaya kami na ang gumagawa ng solusyon,” Vargas said.

“Bantay-Ruta” is an initiative of ALTODAP to go against colorum and out-of-line public utility vehicles.

It would be remembered that last November 16, 2005 it was reported that a group of jeepney drivers plying the Fairview-Kamuning-Arayat (Quezon City) complained that LTO and LTFRB personnel tolerated and even patronized colorum FX vehicles operating in front of their offices along East Avenue, Quezon City.

They said this is higly ironic considering that the LTO and the LTFRB have always trumpeted their accomplishments in their anti-colorum campaigns.

What is more ironic, the drivers said, is that some colorum FX vehicles are driven by some Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) employees who even wear their uniform and prominently display DILG stickers, as well as their DILG identification cards (I.D.s) on the windshields while driving.

The DILG head office is just at the back of the LTO and LTFRB main offices.

A day after the report was published in November last year, Lontoc through LTO’s Public Information Office chief Mary Grace Ramos said the agency will write a letter to then DILG Secretary Angelo Reyes to inform him that the agency will be apprehending the alleged colorum FXs driven allegedly by DILG employees.

Up to yesterday, however, the said vehicles with their respective signboards continued to pick up and drop passengers, which include LTO and LTFRB employees and clients, in front of the LTO and LTFRB main offices.

Lontoc, through Ramos, yesterday said, however, that the LTO has already conducted an operation against the colorum FX vehicles in front of the LTO main office recently but the drivers kept coming back.

Ramos added that LTO executive director, lawyer Jaime Pesigan has also ordered LTO Anti-Colorum Task Force chief Prexy Dumbrique to conduct a thrice a week operation against the colorum FX and submit a progress report.