NEWSFLASH

Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, Aug. 19, 2000 - The court has ordered a ferry company to stop a P20-fare increase and desist from collecting a P10-terminal fee from passengers.

The Philippine Fast Ferry Corporation (PFFC), operating the high speed SuperCat ferries, had earlier announced that passengers would need to pay an additional P20, or 11-percent increase on the old P180 fare. Aside from the P20 increase, PFFC was planning to collect P10 in terminal fee for every passenger who will use the newly constructed passenger terminal at Calapan Port. The shipping firm claimed they spent some P2.5 million to construct the air-conditioned port facility.

In a two-page decision, Executive Judge Tomas C. Leynes of RTC Branch 40 in Calapan gave weight to the petition filed by a group of Oriental Mindoro newsmen, lawyers, businessmen, professionals and students that the said increase was “immoral, unconstitutional, and illegal.”

He issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on PFFC while the merits of the petition were being heard in his sala.

The petitioners told the court that their action was prompted by a letter of Shane Anthony G. Arante, route manager for Batangas and Calapan of PFFC, to Gov. Rodolfo G. Valencia that PFFC will impose the additional fare effective Aug.16.

The petition alleged that PFFC, operator of fast craft boats that ply the lucrative Calapan City-Batangas City sea route, had no basis to increase its fare since the company did not conduct any public hearing and disregarded “representations” made by local officials.

The increase was described as “arbitrary, exorbitant, and unconscionable.”

Currently, the PFFC has one boat plying the 27-nautical mile Batangas-Calapan route.

Local tourism officials noted that PFFC’s present one-boat operation violated the tourism permit and accreditation granted on the company by the Department of Tourism (DOT). Since the start of this year, PFFC has increased its fares four times, purportedly to cover “fuel rates adjustment.”

The company maintained that it had the power to adjust its rate without the benefit of public hearing because, like the oil industry, it belonged to the “deregulated sector.”