The question mark deserves to be there, although the riding public and the tricycle drivers would prefer a period.
Last Sept. 29, 2022, the Sangguniang Bayan of Virac transmitted the copy of Municipal Resolution No. 2022-09-375 to the Office of the Mayor for approval.
It is presumed that on the same day, Mayor Samuel Laynes signed the measure, which authorizes the application of motorized tricycle fare increase of four pesos (P4.00) and six pesos (P6.00).
The problem is that the resolution did not state whether the new fare matrix became effective and enforceable upon approval of the local chief executive.
What it did say was that “the Office of the Mayor shall cause the dissemination of this resolution by producing and posting adjusted fare matric sticker in all the public utility tricycles plying in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Virac as well as posting of tarpaulins containing the foregoing adjusted fare matrix in some areas of the main thoroughfares of Virac.”
The municipal council based the fare increase on the old fares prescribed by Municipal Resolution No. 2019-01-04 which enacted Ordinance No. 2019-01.
As a result, the new fare for tricycle rides from the market to Palnab, Gogon, Francia and nearby barangays within the población and vice versa is now P14.00 (P11.20 after 20% discount for students and PWDs/seniors).
From the market to the CatSU area including Calatagan Proper and the Araojo cockpit, the commuter will pay P20, the same fare for rides to Danicop, San Vicente and Sto. Nino.
The new tricycle fare for población rides are 25 percent lower than the P20 set under Executive Order No. 56 issued by then Mayor Sinforoso Sarmiento Jr. in December 2021 that provided temporary tricycle fare rates under Alert Level 2.
With the Sangguniang Bayan authorizing the new fare increase based on the 2019 ordinance, the 2021 temporary fare rates are deemed superseded.
The new fares have understandably disappointed the Federation of Virac Tricycle Operators and Drivers Associations (FEDVITODA), which had requested P15 or P16 fare for downtown routes and P35 or P30 for the Palta area.
It said the petitions of their TODA presidents in faraway barangays were not heard, citing the fact that in the Camarines provinces where the price of gasoline ranges from P67 to P70 per liter, the minimum fare if P15 to P20 for a two-kilometer ride.
“FEDVITODA honors the wisdom and discretion of our politicians,” it stated but left behind a loaded declaration: “Malapit na rin ang election, inaabangan ng mga dehado at naaapi.”
With more than 2,000 tricycles plying the Virac routes, the tricycle drivers and their families represent a sizeable portion of the voting population that elective officials cannot ignore.
But it is presumed that the honorable members of the council led by Vice Mayor Arlynn Arcilla, in approving the new fare matrix, considered the plight of both the riding public and the tricycle operators and drivers.
Most probably, they contemplated not only the fluctuating price of gasoline and the effect of inflation but also the fact that the situation in the province has almost returned to normal as far as the pandemic is concerned.
For now, what the municipal government must to is to fast-track the dissemination of the new tricycle fare matrix for the information of the public as well as the distribution of the adjusted fare matrix stickers to tricycle drivers.
And, of course, it should announce clearly for the benefit of commuters if the new fares are already effective or will be implemented at a definite date.