THE city government of Koronadal in South Cotabato stopped the operations of Yellow Bus Line Inc. on Friday, December 16, causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers who have been patronizing the company.Mayor Eliordo Ogena said he ordered the closure of the firm's private terminal here after the firm allegedly violated a local revenue code.'The company has been operating without a business permit for two years in a row; that's why the city government closed it,' Ogena said.Ogena added that the city hall has issued several cease-and-desist orders and notices of closure to the bus company, but the firm apparently disregarded them.Yellow Bus, in response to the action, posted a giant tarpaulin in front of its terminal an order from the Regional Trial Court Branch 42 involving a writ of execution on Civil Case 2316-42.The court ordered, in its ruling issued on Dec. 27, 2019, the city mayor and concerned offices to refrain from implementing City Ordinance 9 Series of 2018 on Yellow Bus, which operated from its private terminal for decades along the highway in GenSan Drive that is nearer to the city's commercial district.The ordinance required all buses and passenger vans operating in the city to utilize the public terminal along Robredo Avenue. Ogena said the case is under appeal.The mayor explained that Ordinance 9 is not the issue why they closed the Yellow Bus terminal last Friday.'The company is operating illegally without a business permit, so we closed their terminal — this is the issue here,' he added.Ogena revealed that there have been at least three meetings with a company intermediary in a bid for settlement, but negotiations failed.Traffic enforcers flagged down several Yellow Bus units along the highway going to the cities of Tacurong in the north and General Santos in the south while the passengers were forced to disembark.Passengers flocked to the city public terminal where a long queue formed due to the lack of public buses.Yellow Bus units from different routes were seen offloading their passengers at its terminal Friday afternoon despite the closure order issued to the firm.Yellow Bus is the oldest and the biggest bus operator in the Soccsksargen Region. It is based in Koronadal City, the capital of South Cotabato and the seat of the regional government.It serves the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Davao del Sur and Davao City.Ogena apologized for the inconvenience brought to the riding public by the closure of Yellow Bus Line's private terminal.However, he stressed that the company is operating illegally for lacking a business permit and that he is merely implementing the city's revenue code in shutting down the firm's own terminal.