AN ALUMNA of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters has been appointed officer-in-charge of the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) following the suspension of the agency’s chairman.
UST legal management graduate Mercy Paras-Leynes was designated to the position on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
The decision came a day after President Marcos, Jr. suspended LTFRB chief Teofilo Guadiz III due to allegations of corruption. His accuser, former LTFRB senior executive assistant Jeff Tumbado, has since decanted his allegations.
“In the exigency and best interest of the service, Atty. Mercy Paras Leynes, Board Member of the LTFRB is hereby designated as Officer-in-Charge-Chairperson of the LTFRB from 10 October 2023 to 09 October 2024,” a special order signed by transportation chief Jaime Bautista read.
Before her appointment, Leynes assessed fare hike petitions filed by transport groups as a board member of LTFRB. She worked as a legal officer at the Land Transportation Office from 2003 to 2016 and served as chief transportation regulation officer from 2016 to 2022.
Leynes also teaches transportation law at the UST Faculty of Civil Law, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in law in 2001. She completed her bachelor’s degree in legal management at the University in 1996 and obtained her master’s degree in law at the UST Graduate School in 2016. F — John Martin Revilla and Raymond Vince Manaloto
Editor’s note: This article has been edited to correct where Mercy Paras Leynes earned her master’s degree in law, which was at the UST Graduate School.
