MANILA – The government’s Public Utility Vehicle’s (PUV) modernization program has no allocation from the proposed P4.1-trillion budget for 2020, Sen. Nancy Binay bared on Thursday.
Binay made the disclosure during the budget deliberation on the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) proposed P126-billion budget for next year by the Senate Committee on Finance.
The PUV Modernization Project will ban PUVs, including jeepneys, aged 15 years old and above from plying the roads and replace them with e-jeepneys worth P1.6 million each. There are at least 170,000 PUJs across the country based on government records.
Binay initially asked if the 2020 deadline for the implementation of PUV modernization will still push through, given that investments for it were only able to fund 2% of the needed number of modern PUVs thus far.
“Sa budget niyo sa 2020, wala pong budget for PUV modernization. Paano po tayo uusad?” Binay asked DOTr officials.
“And assuming that jeepney drivers will no longer be jeepney drivers because they can’t afford the new jeepneys, who will provide the need of our riding public amid the PUV modernization?” she added.
Aside from the hefty price tag of the modern jeep, the PUV Modernization Program also requires drivers who don’t own the PUJs they drive to affiliate themselves with cooperatives which are financially capable of buying the new jeepneys since the government will only issue franchise to operate to cooperatives, not individuals.
Once they are a part of a cooperative, drivers will work depending on the shift designated to them, unlike in the present setup when individuals who own jeepneys can ply the road whenever they want, save for a day because of the number-coding scheme, which bans vehicles on the road based on the last digit of plate number.
DOTr Undersecretary Mark Richmond de Leon then conceded that the 2020 deadline for implementation of PUV modernization has been scrapped for now.
“We had evaluation po, and based on these challenges, we will provide an updated schedule [for PUV modernization],” de Leon said.
DOTR Secretary Arthur Tugade, for his part, insisted that the PUV needs of the country will still be met even with reduced jeepneys as a result of PUV modernization.
“Hindi naman po walang jeepney, wala nang magagamit. Andiyan po ang bus, at mga tren na gagawin pa natin,” Tugade said.
Likewise, Tugade said that Toyota is set to make a prototype for modern jeepneys with an accompanying financial package.
“Mayroon pong prototype na may financial package. Toyota po ang may gawa. Kaya po nilang gumawa ng 500 to 700 units in a year, kaya hindi po masasabing wala ng magagamit [kung walang jeep],” he said.
Binay, however, countered that at the current pace, PUV modernization could not happen within the remaining three years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
“Two percent pa lang po [ang nami-meet na requirements]. Eh tatlong taon na lang po si Presidente. Baka four percent lang ‘yun by 2022,” Binay said.
The House of Representatives amended DOTr’s proposed budget by realigning P274 million to it. The said funding, however, is for the operating expenses of Davao City International Airport.
Davao City is the hometown of President Duterte. (GMA News/PN)