- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said Friday that only about six percent of public utility vehicles (PUVs) nationwide are expected to join the transport strike next week.
In Bacolod, Diego Malacad, secretary-general of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (Undoc), said in a radio interview over RMN-DyHB that they will no longer join the transport strike set to start on March 6.
This was after the LTFRB extended the deadline, from June 30 to Dec. 31 this year, for the consolidation of traditional jeepneys into cooperatives as required under the PUV Modernization Program.
But Malacad said his group will still meet and decide what actions they will do for next week’s activity.
The Department of Transportation and LTFRB stood firm with the decision to impose a deadline on the consolidation of operators and drivers by forming their own transport juridical entities, either through cooperatives or corporations, otherwise the PUVMP will not be implemented.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said March 2 that the deadline imposed is for the consolidation and not the phase-out of traditional jeepneys.
“Kasi kung hindi tayo magbibigay ng deadline, walang susunod. Hindi natin mai-implement itong ating PUV Modernization Program if we don’t impose deadlines,” Bautista said during the Senate hearing on the PUVMP.
He said in a statement that once operators and drivers have formed their own cooperatives or corporations, the next step would be the implementation of the other components of the program, like route rationalization, and improvement of operations through fleet management, among others.
Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor said at the Senate hearing that, in the next few months, the DOTr and LTFRB will revisit and recalibrate existing policies on the PUVMP to ensure that the strategies do not veer away from the objectives of the program, especially on the part of improving the welfare of drivers, operators, and commuters.
On Wednesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government’s PUVMP is necessary but its implementation needs more discussions among stakeholders, particularly jeepney drivers groups.
The President said in a Presidential Communications Office report that while he sees the need to modernize public utility vehicles, proper program implementation is also necessary./CGC
