• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Transport group Piston belittled May 7 the decision of the Department of Transportation to reopen applications for public utility vehicle (PUV) consolidation that closed April last year.
It claimed that DOTr Department Order 2025-009, issued May 6 by Secretary Vince Dizon, “merely extends the same failed framework of forced consolidation that have decimated drivers’ incomes, displaced operators without access to capital, and transferred control of routes to large, politically-connected cooperatives and corporations”.
DO 2025-009 provides the guidelines on the reopening of applications for consolidation under the government’s Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) and the issuance of provisional authority (PA) for unconsolidated individual PUV operators.
Dizon said the adjustment to the PTMP initiative will allow operators and drivers to join or form new cooperatives in areas with existing routes.
“’Yun ang option ngayon ng mga hindi nakapasok noong April 2024—they can either join an existing consolidated cooperative or they can form their own pero para sa mga below 60 percent sa mga ruta na hindi pa ganun karami ang buma-biyahe, pwede silang pumasok dun,” he said in a statement May 7, adding that old jeepney units will be subjected to roadworthiness checks to ensure the safety of passengers.
The order, which shall take effect after its publication, covers public utility jeepney (PUJ) and UV Express (UVE) operators with previous PА, who failed to consolidate and with units duly confirmed with the LTFRB and registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for year 2023 or 2024; and PUJ and UVE operators with pending motion to accept consolidation or application for consolidation/amended application for consolidation of units confirmed with the LTFRB and registered with the LTO for year 2023 or 2024.
PUJ and UVE operators covered by the order shall be allowed to join existing consolidated transport service entities (TSEs) in routes with 60 percent and above consolidation rate, subject to the conformity of said TSEs, the DO states.
They are also allowed to consolidate, form a new TSE, or join an existing TSE in routes with less than 60 percent consolidation, provided that they were previously granted authority to operate on concerned routes, the DOTr said, adding that unconsolidated operators may be allowed to operate in existing and rationalized routes without consolidated TSEs, pending the implementation of the transfer plan.
But Piston said the consolidation reopening is “yet another measure that places the burden squarely on the backs of small PUV drivers and operators.”
It said the one-year PA that unconsolidated operators can secure “for routes they were previously authorized to operate” provided there is no consolidated TSE on that route “continues to perpetuate uncertainty, undermining long-term planning, and denying basic livelihood security.”
“Piston rejects this token relief as inadequate. Franchises, not PAs, should be granted on five-year terms, free of onerous fleet requirements that individual operators cannot reasonably meet,” it stressed and iterated its long-standing clamor for the government to scrap the PTMP.
“DO-2025-009 is a rebranded extension of failed consolidation schemes that have left tens of thousands of drivers impoverished and commuters underserved. Piston demands the DOTr to immediately allow all unconsolidated operators to operate, rescind all consolidation quotas, reinstate the five-year franchises, and scrap the entire PTMP,” it added. | CGC
