MANILA – Twenty-two senators have signed a resolution urging President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to suspend temporarily the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).
Opposition senator Risa Hontiveros was the lone member of the upper chamber who did not sign and co-author the proposed Senate Resolution 1096.
Under the PSR 1096, the senators said the program should be temporarily suspended “pending the resolution of valid and urgent concerns raised by affected drivers, groups, unions, and transport cooperatives with the end in view [of] ensuring a more efficient and inclusive implementation of the PTMP.”
The senators took into consideration the concerns raised by various transport groups that they said are “due to the continuing deficiencies of the PTMP which are yet to be addressed by the [Department of Transportation.”
“While PTMP is integral to the traffic management solution, 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,” the resolution read.
“While the intent of the PTMP is laudable, continuing with the program without threshing out these concerns would go against the constitutional directive of promoting social justice in all phases of national development,” it added.
According to the 22 senators who signed the petition, more consideration and clarifications are needed to be made by the DOTr in order to address the concerns voiced by affected sectors, especially the drivers.
Among the issues mentioned is the high figure of unconsolidated PUV units that they attributed to the government’s insufficient information drive to educate the drivers, operators and transport groups about the program; and the burden of financing the cost of modern PUVs, which they said greatly exceeds the financial capacity of drivers and operators.
Currently, 36,217 units or approximately 19% of jeepneys and other PUVs have not yet consolidated and the statistics “may still rise” as there were drivers and operators who filed petitions to have their membership be revoked or cancelled due to apparent mismanagement of their respective transport cooperatives.
“Those who did not participate in the consolidation are now considered as colorum or operating illegally and run the risk of being fined and their vehicles impounded should the drivers continue to ply their routes,” the resolution read.
“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 added.
Another “alarming” concern that the senators pointed out is the phase-out of the iconic jeepney design “in favor of the so-called modern jeepneys which are merely mini-buses imported from other countries.”
The senators also noted that, as of April 30, only 174 or 11.05 percent of the 1,574 local government units have approved Local Public Transport Route Planning (LPTRP).
The PUVMP, which started in 2017, aims to replace jeepneys with vehicles with at least a Euro 4-compliant engine to lessen pollution and replace PUVs that were not roadworthy by the standards of the Land Transportation Office.
The program required jeepney drivers and operators to join or form cooperatives. They could also apply for new franchises but as part of transport cooperatives./PN
