Farmers in Benguet load cabbage onto a truck to be sold in different markets including Manila. FILE PHOTO

A Central Luzon base truckers group questioned the toll hike in North Luzon Expressway(NLEX) last Sunday, saying the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) approved it without public consultation.

Connie Tinio, head of the Alliance of Concerned Truck Owners and Organizations (ACTOO) – Central Luzon, said the increase is “untimely” and would lead to higher prices on goods.

“Hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit ang Toll Regulatory Board nag-a-approve siya, gumagawa siya desisyon nang hindi man lang kinokonsulta yung mga stakeholders,” she said.

Tinio said the raised toll fees will mean higher prices for agricultural products, raw materials, and most goods that need to be transported.

She stressed that if they raise the toll fee, we will also increase our rates. If our clients pay us more, who will they pass that cost on to? At the tail end will be the consumers.

Tinio said her group seek audience with newly appointed Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon to appeal the toll hike and call for it to be suspended pending consultation with stakeholders like ACTOO.

Earlier, Dizon suspended the implementation of cashless payments on tollways and penalizing motorists who don’t have cashless payment stickers or devices installed. He said the policy was discriminatory towards poor motorists.

He also ordered the review of issues surrounding the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program.

Under the new toll matrix, motorists will be paying an additional P5 for Class 1 (cars, motorcycles and most other personal vehicles), P13 for Class 2 (buses and trucks) vehicles, P15 for Class 3 (large trucks) vehicles.

Motorists traveling from Balintawak, Quezon City to the end of the expressway in Santa Ines in Mabalacat, Pampanga will be paying a total additonal toll of P57 for Class 1 vehicles, P142 for Class 2 vehicles, and P171 for Class 3 vehicles.

Earlier, TRB spokesperson Julius Corpuz said that the toll hike petition went through a thorough review and that operator NLEX Corp. has committed to continuously improve its systems.

Corpuz said that NLEX Corp. has complied with the terms of its contract with government but that TRB expects the firm to prove that the increased tolls lead to better service.

Corpuz added that TRB allowed the increase as part of a contractual obligation “to give our operators investor to recoup their investment”.

The TRB spokesperson said the petitions for toll increases were published in a newspaper and that there was no opposition to the hike.

The TRB official assured the public that the second tranche of toll hike petitions scheduled next year will undergo another round of study.