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[av_heading heading=’ Old PUVs must go, says Leonardia’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Like Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., Mayor Evelio Leonardia believes public utility vehicles (PUVs) 15 years and older must be phased out.
Leonardia said he supports the phaseout plan because of the “traffic epidemic” in the Philippines.
Transport groups in Negros Island Region and other parts of the country held a strike on Monday to protest the planned phaseout of old PUVs and push for “vehicular rehabilitation.”
Other countries apply a lifespan to their vehicles, Leonardia said. “Here in the Philippines, once a motor vehicle is born, it does not die.”
But the mayor stressed the government and the transport sector must compromise.
“Roadworthiness” of PUVs and “safety of the commuters” are at stake, he stressed.
During the Monday strike, Marañon said the phaseout plan is “necessary” if the transportation system must be modernized.
Rehabilitating the PUVs would be “difficult,” he said.
Marañon also criticized jeepneys as “inefficient”; while they are the “most popular” mode of transportation, they are the primary cause of heavy traffic in Metro Manila and have been around since World War II.
Meanwhile, United Negros Drivers and Operators Center secretary-general Diego Malacad said he is not totally against modernizing the transport system but wants the government to replace old PUVs./PN
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