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Byron bus files P10M suit against LTFRB

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union (June 29) — Super Byron Express Inc., through its President Lorena H. Cacdac, filed on June 29 a P10 M civil suit for damages against Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chair Maria Elena H. Bautista and Board Member Gerardo A. Pinili.

The case was filed for “… wantonly, capriciously, feloniously criminally and without due process” issuing an undated order canceling all the Certificates of Public Conveyance issued for the bus company.

Cacdac said she received the undated order canceling and revoking the Certificates of Public Conveyance (not Convenience as stated in Order) issued on all Byron buses on June 27. Counsel Atty. Joselito Biares, representing Cacdac, claimed there was bad faith on the part of the defendants Bautista and Pinili because Bautista was already publicly announcing that she will cancel Byron’s CPC’s in various news media even before the order was released. Cacdac also claims unequal application of the law pointing out that Victory Liner which experienced a series of major accidents in a certain period was not meted the similar penalty of suspension and subsequent cancellation of CPCs.

The Certificate of Public Conveyance (CPC) for Byron buses was suspended May 12, 2002 following the May 11 accident where one of its buses rammed a retaining wall at Marcos Highway resulting to the death of 29 passengers. Byron was also directed to submit all of its buses for inspection by the LTO Motor Vehicles Inspection Station (MVIS) in Manila.

In a meeting held June 23 last week with Department of Transportation and Communication Regional Director for Cordillera Atty. Alfredo Mondiguing, Cacdac stated that two of their buses were initially brought down to Quezon City for inspection while a third bus followed for a total of three representative samples. A Motion for Reconsideration was then filed May 20 asking that the MVIS inspection be conducted in a nearer venue as bringing all their 59 buses to Manila would bleed their finances as one two way trip would cause them over P8,000 exclusive of driver’s and companions allowances and wages.

Further, Biares said the company has two major machine shops in Bauang and Dagupan City aside from pitstop repair shops along their routes so trouble shooting is not a problem. Byron buses then resumed trips also because the 30-day prescriptive period of the suspension had expired.

The undated order of LTFRB Chair Bautista and Board Member Pinili stated that MVIS inspection results showed that the two units submitted by Byron “… failed to meet the safety standards and mechanical fitness of roadworthy public utility vehicles,” but these eventually passed as roadworthy after a re-inspection conducted June 02, 2005.

Regarding the Motion for Reconsideration, the earlier order for Byron to present their buses for inspection at LTO-MVIS in Quezon City was to ascertain roadworthiness of the units in the interest of assuring the safety of the riding public. “A rigid inspection without the possibility of altering its result cannot be achieved in other inspection sites considering the lack of necessary MVIS facilities and equipment in Region 1 and CAR,” the order stated.

The Motion for Reconsideration was then denied and considering that Byron failed to submit all its units for actual inspection in defiance of the May 12 order of the Board, the Certificate of Public Convenience (sic) under the name of Byron are hereby Cancelled and Revoked. This undated order was signed in full by Chairperson Maria Elena H. Bautista and initialed by Board Member Gerardo Pinili.

Cacdac through her lawyer said Bautista and Pinili “…acted in bad faith, with great bias and with unjustified hostility as they knowingly rendered and issued the said unjust Order” mainly because it was undated and that such cancellation and revocation should have been an en banc decision after a reasonable hearing or presentation of arguments. They gathered that one Board member Felix Racadio did not participate in any of the meetings regarding such case and consequently did not sign the Order.

Byron is asking for P708,750 as losses in gross earning and further accruing plus interest as actual damages; P7,000,000 as moral damages; P2,000,000 as exemplary damages; P300,000 as attorney’s fees exclusive of appearance fees and other costs of the suit. The complaint was filed with the Regional Trial Court in this city June 29, 2005.

The said order is too harsh and cruel a penalty and is tantamount to a deprivation of property or property rights of the plaintiffs affecting not only them but also the company’s shareholders and its 132 employees and their respective families, Cacdac’s complaint stated. # Nathan E. Alcantara

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