The Cordillera office of the Department of Transportation (DOTR-CAR) will be rolling out the annual Oplan Semana Santa 2023 on April 1-10, 2023 to ensure safe and convenient travel for motorists wanting to go their respective home provinces to spend a well-deserved break during the Holy Week.
DOTR-CAR regional director Francis Ray Almora said that the agency will be conducting surprise inspections of public utility vehicles that will ferry people to and from the provinces to ensure they are well maintained and have updated certificates of public convenience for the safe and convenient travel of travelers.
He pointed out that various teams from the Land Transportation office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) will be doing the rounds in the different bus, jeepney and van terminals to do the random checking of the vehicles that are scheduled to ferry passengers to check if these are in good running condition aside from the fact that the drivers and conductors are prim and proper.
The DOTR-CAR official warned colorum vehicles not to try their luck to take advantage of the expected inadequate number of vehicles plying the various provincial routes because the deputized enforcers will be constrained to apprehend them and impound their vehicles.
Aside from facing stiff penalties for operating colorum vehicles, drivers and operators will also be compelled to pay the prescribed fine of P200,000 for the release of their vehicles or the same will be impounded until that such penalty shall have been settled.
Director Almora said that apart from surprise visits in terminals, LTO and LTFRB personnel will also be conducting mobile checkpoints in strategic roads to monitor the compliance of operators and drivers to the standards of operational public utility vehicles for the safety of the travelling public.
On the other hand, he added that motorist assistance centers will also be made available in certain road sections to extend the needed help for motorists encountering problems in their travel to their destinations in the different parts of the region.
The DOTR, LTO and LTFRB will be conducting the Oplan Semana Santa in partnership with their partner communication groups and volunteers to ensure the successful implementation of the annual program during the duration of the Holy Week.
Almora called on operators and drivers of public utility vehicles to cooperate with the implementation of the aforesaid program because the safety of travelers matters for them to enjoy the Holy Week break in the provinces.
He underscored that the awareness of travelers to the prevailing safety types will help in preventing the occurrence of untoward incidents that may pose a serious threat to life and limb that is why whatever defects of public utility vehicles should be immediately addressed by the operators and drivers and not for them to take the risk by using their defective vehicles in transporting people to and from the provinces.
