2% more drivers join new PUV plan

THE RATE of industry consolidation under the Philippines’ transport modernization program saw a 2% increase since May, the government said, as jeepney drivers and operators held a nationwide strike.

Transport groups Manila and Piston on Monday said they were expecting 90,000 drivers and operators to join their two-day nationwide strike against the costly and long-delayed Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) modernization program, in a move that transport officials downplayed.

Separate photos from Manibela showed commuters in Pasig, Las Piñas, and Quezon City in Metro Manila and Dasmariñas City in Cavite province flocking to street sides to wait for a jeepney ride.

“The passengers are really miserable because of the abuses of the Department of Transportation (DoTR) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB),” Manibela said in its photo caption in Filipino.

LTFRB Chairperson Teofilo E. Guadiz III said at a Palace briefing on Monday that 83% of jeepney drivers and operators have consolidated or joined cooperatives under the modernization program.

“So, we have 17% [left],” he said, noting that such a figure does not necessarily represent drivers and operators who are against the consolidation policy. 

“We are talking of the groups, that’s more or less mga 5%.”

The Transport department in May reported an 81% consolidation rate, 61% of which or 30,561 jeepney units were in Metro Manila. The agency had said such a nationwide rate was enough to transit commuters in Metro Manila and other areas.

“On the ongoing transportation strike, we cannot turn our back to the vast majority of transport groups who understand and subscribe to the public transport modernization program,” Transport Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said at the briefing.

“The call of PISTON and Manibela to scrap the program is non-negotiable,” he said. “These two groups cannot be allowed to derail the program.”

He said the Transport department was working on instruction of Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero that “no one gets left behind.”

The senator advised the Department of Transportation earlier this month to keep reaching out to drivers and operators who did not heed its requirement for them to consolidate into cooperatives or corporations by April 30.

The agency “should continue to reach out to these groups and not close the door on them completely.”

At the 11 a.m. briefing, Mr. Guadiz downplayed the impact of the transport strike, saying reports of stranded people only showed ‘’regular traffic’’ situation on a Monday.

“I am glad to tell you that there were no stranded passengers due to the transport strike,”’ he said in Filipino, adding that only a few joined the transport strike.

A report by a commuter network showed police personnel barricading Monumento Circle in Caloocan City with their motorcycles and mobiles.

There were 11 strike centers in Metro Manila.

Mr. Guadiz said the government was prepared to provide free rides and that the Philippine police forces were ready to “ensure peace and order.”

“So as of this time, no one got stranded.” — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza