Senate seeks halt to state’s jeepney modernization plan
PHILIPPINE senators have filed a resolution that seeks to suspend the government’s jeepney modernization program to avoid jeopardizing the livelihood of jeepney drivers and operators.
“There is an urgent need to thoroughly review and reassess the impact of the program to alleviate the fears of the drivers and transport operators who will be directly burdened by its implementation,” according to Senate Resolution No. 1096.
“More consideration and clarifications are needed to be made by the Department of Transportation in order to address the concerns voiced by affected stakeholders, especially the drivers.”
It is a sense of the Senate resolution, which expresses the chamber’s stance on the modernization issue.
Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel did not sign the resolution. Her office did not immediately reply to a Viber message asking why she did not sign it.
“The error of the Department of Transportation was to focus on consolidation and vehicle replacement rather than on route restructuring first,” Rene S. Santiago, a founding member of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.
Senate President Francis G. Escudero earlier sought to suspend the program since operators are finding it difficult to buy expensive modern jeepneys, which cost at least P2.6 million.
The deadline for jeepneys to consolidate into cooperatives lapsed on Dec. 31, but public utility vehicles had been allowed to keep operating until Jan 31 this year. The President later extended the deadline to April 30.
The modernization program started in 2017, aiming to replace traditional jeepneys with units that have at least a Euro 4-compliant engine to cut pollution.
Transport groups have asked the Supreme Court to halt the modernization program, which they said is illegal.
“These small stakeholders, particularly the drivers who remain unconsolidated are effectively forced out of their livelihoods, with most of them expressing that the only skill they have is driving,” the senators said in the resolution. — John Victor D. Ordoñez