ICVB defends taxi 'gratuity' imposition
Until and unless tipping is declared illegal and tippers outlawed in the country, for the Iloilo Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB), the P80 gratuity for taxi drivers of Light of Glory stays. And it stays too, until and unless government agencies concerned in the operation of the new Iloilo Airport in Sta. Barbara-Cabatuan get their acts together and resolve the issue as raised by the taxi operators.
Such was the statement of ICVB's Manny Gruenberg when reached yesterday for comment by The News Today (TNT). Questions abound on an ICVB flyer used as basis by drivers of Light of Glory taxi units to receive P80 more than what the fare appears in the taxi fare meters.
Tagged as "gratuity" or tip, the P80 add-on is only for Light of Glory taxi units picking up and taking passengers to the new Iloilo airport.
For Regional Director Porferio Clavel of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the practice cum agreement is illegal. Any additional expense for the riding public must be regulated by the LTFRB, Director Clavel stressed, reason why a hearing is being conducted on an "add-on" amount as petitioned by the local taxi organization.
"Let us go back to the original problem. We tried to meet with concerned government agencies but unfortunately, they were not around and only Tourism Director Edwin Trompeta was there. So we came up with a solution in order to protect our hotel guests from unscrupulous drivers. And it is a tip, a gratuity that comes from the heart. So that is our point, what is illegal in what we are doing? For us, tipping will solve the problem of our hotel guests and the taxi drivers," Gruenberg lengthily explained. "Nobody came up with the solution but if there is one, then we will follow it. Meantime, the agreement stays."
And it is a misconception too, Gruenberg added, to say that ICVB "authorized" the Light of Glory taxi drivers to demand for P80 add-on.
"There was no authority granted, it was only an agreement," he explained.
Light of Glory management came under fire particularly with the no-add-on stance of its operator, lawyer Joseph Vincent Go. The P80 gratuity cum tip cum add-onn was only made public after flyers scattered in the city and media furnished with samples.
The LTFRB meantime held a public hearing yesterday to discuss the petition of the Association of Taxi Operators in Panay (ATOP). Businesswoman Donna Ratilla of GDR Taxi, ATOP president, in the group's Petition called for a P150 add-on however the amount is "negotiable."
Ratilla in radio interviews stressed that the association is working with the government to come up with a win-win solution to the problem.
Protection to the taxi operators, the riding public and the drivers, Ratilla explained. And they want answers immediately, she continued, if only to put things in order with taxi operations to and from the new Iloilo airport.
To recall, LTFRB has since been in the center of controversy in the much-awaited operations of the multi-billion new Iloilo Airport. Weeks prior to the official decommissioning of the old airport in Mandurriao, discussions already heightened in the media as questions abound on the matter of public transport to and from the new Airport.
"Has there been any complaint from the hotel guests with regards to the P80 gratuity? No. There has been none," Gruenberg ended.