NegOr Chamber of Commerce president Edward Du, has denied accusations by Councilors Arbas and Remollo in the city council that they are enticing members of the jeepney and multicab operators association FEDENDOA , to fill up their gas tanks exclusively with the federation-owned gas station located just beside the FEDUMCODA tricycle federation-owned gas station.
Du told the CHRONICLE that as a ‘non-salaried manager’ of the Robinson-owned jeepney and multicab transport terminal located near the Robinsons mall and Ceres terminal, members get discounts of P2 per liter and a .50 centavos discount on terminal fees for those who park and pick up passengers at the terminal.
Question is: who really are the capitalists behind the FEDENDOA-owned gas station? Do the drivers have the capital? Who gets the lion’s share of the profit of thousands of pesos from the daily gas consumption of 300 jeepney members?
The Memorandum of Agreement is signed between Ed Du as terminal manager, , the Federation of NegOr Drivers and Operator’s Associations and Robinsons Land Corporation. Du said Robiinsons appointed him as manager without salary. But Du said, nobody is forced to join the association. But definitely, the city government will pursue this mandated integrated jeepeny terminal and abolish those mini terminals which are on rented spaces along the highways.
However, Vice Mayor Alan Cordova, Councilors Joe Kenneth Arbas and Antonio “TonyRems” Remollo cried foul over the arrangement considering that dozens of other gas stations will be adversely affected and are put at a disadvantage.
Under the same MOA, Du being the designated Terminal Manager by Robinsons, can suspend, blacklist or permanently ban those public utility vehicles that will not patronize the federation’s gas station. He shall also collect P 16.00 per trip per utility vehicle to pay for the monthly overhead expenses and terminal office equipment. Furthermore, the drivers and operators shall cease to patronize and dismantle all other private and public terminals and to relocate to the newly-built integrated transport terminal.
The now controversial MOA, which was signed September 2011, proved to be laed with “exclusivities” favoring the MOA signers , even as the drivers and operators are to keep patronizing the privately-owned terminal. The MOA provides that they could not patronize any other terminals otherwise the Federation shall be held liable for breach of contract and the struggling drivers will have to reimburse Robinsons of P 20 million spent for the construction of the integrated terminal.
Under the MOA, Robinsons can practically terminate the contract by merely expressing its intent to make use of the integrated terminal for commercial, residential or any other uses by just giving the Federation six months notice. (by Dems Demecillo)
