BACOLOD City – A “unity forum” against the government’s jeepney modernization program is set in this city today.
Organized by the United Negros Drivers and Operator Center (UNDOC), the forum aims to “unmask the truth” behind the modernization program.
UNDOC secretary-general Diego Malacad said the program will be a “total disaster” for the transport sector.
The program – launched last year – requires all jeepney operators to comply with the new design standards for the country’s most popular mode of transportation.
The operators were given three years to do this.
President Rodrigo Duterte said the traditional, smoke-belching jeepneys poison the air and thus threaten public health.
The traditional jeepneys use second-hand diesel engines. They have low ceilings and their main doors are at the back.
The new ones are using low carbon-emitting engine, or an engine running on alternative fuel such as electricity and solar power. They also have high ceilings and doors at the curbside.
But Malacad said “modernization” was only the term used by the government to cover what it really wants, which is jeepney phaseout.
He added that all transport organizations in Western Visayas must attend the forum to oppose the program.
When fully implemented by 2020, the program will be a “super calamity” for jeepney drivers and operators as they will be displaced, Malacad stressed./PN
