Marcos gives jeepney operators three more months to consolidate
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has approved the Transportation department’s proposal to give jeepney and other public utility vehicle (PUV) operators three more months to consolidate under the state’s modernization plan.
The deadline was extended to April 30 from Jan. 31, the presidential palace said in a statement on Wednesday.
“This extension is to give an opportunity to those who expressed the intention to consolidate but did not make the previous cut-off,” Presidential Communications Office chief Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said.
The House of Representatives transportation committee on Wednesday drafted a resolution asking the President to extend the deadline to protect stakeholders and commuters.
The lawmakers said the intention of the modernization program is beyond question and the plan is long overdue.
But “the needed reforms must be done in accordance with the law and due process to ensure the protection of the affected stakeholders and the riding public in general,” according to a copy of the draft resolution. It did not specify a new deadline.
“The very essence of the resolution is to reconsider the implementation of a consolidation deadline,” Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan S. Fernandez, who moved for the filing of the resolution, told a hearing on Wednesday.
Unconsolidated PUVs originally had until Jan. 31 to operate, or a month after the year-end consolidation deadline.
The committee approved Mr. Fernandez’s motion to ask the President and Transportation department to consider extending the deadline “until the government can come up with a concrete plan to address the major issues in the implementation of the program.”
More than 300 public utility jeepney (PUJ) routes and 76 UV Express routes in Metro Manila alone have not been consolidated, according to the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) website.
About 38,000 jeepney drivers could lose their jobs next month when the PUV modernization program takes effect, LTFRB Chairman Teofilo E. Guadiz III said on Jan. 10.
“If we’re not allowed to operate by Feb. 1, what will we feed our families?” Lito Andal, who heads a group of jeepney drivers based in central Luzon, told the House hearing in Filipino. “This is the only job that we know.”
Transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) urged the government to focus on supporting local manufacturers of modern jeepneys if it really wants to modernize public transportation.
The modernization plan would likely lead to fare increases, PISTON President Mody T. Floranda told congressmen.
Think tank IBON Foundation estimates that PUV fares could increase by as much as P50 in the next five years if modernization takes place. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and Beatriz Marie D. Cruz