Local taxi drivers and operators are planning a caravan rally to protest the “unfair” distribution of government fuel subsidies, alleging that unregistered “colorum” tricycles and transport network vehicle service (TNVS) units are being prioritized over legitimate public utility vehicles (PUVs).
The Samahan ng mga Taxi Drivers sa Bacolod (SMTDB) and the Taxi Operators Negros Occidental Association (TONO) made the statement during a press conference in Bacolod City on Monday, calling on government agencies to include their 520 members in fuel subsidy programs and other assistance from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“Taxi operators have been serving Bacolod for decades. We are the original public utility vehicles—we have franchises, registration papers, city stickers, and business permits to ensure passenger safety. Yet when government programs are rolled out, taxi drivers are always left behind,” SMTDB president Ronald Allan Salgado said in a statement.
The groups claimed that while compliant taxi operators shoulder high costs to meet regulatory requirements, a substantial portion of recent fuel subsidies distributed by the LTFRB, DSWD, and local government units went to “colorum” tricycles and TNVS units allegedly operating with “ghost drivers” and “ghost riders.”
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