Lawmakers offer alternative to PUV phaseout

MANILA, Philippines — Key leaders and members of the House of Representatives have offered several modes of implementing the government-approved phaseout of the decades old iconic public utility jeepneys, whose drivers and operators have threatened a nationwide transport strike this week.

Rep. Joey Salceda proposed that the national government, through the Department of Transportation (DOTr), consider a “trade-in scheme, where the government simply buys out old jeepneys for P100,000 to 150,000 per unit, with no other condition.”

“You don’t have to modernize. You don’t have to join a cooperative. You can just shift out of the jeepney sector altogether if you want to. You get an outright P150,000 for trading your jeepney in,” the chairman of the House ways and means committee suggested over the weekend.

Salceda referred to the Car Allowance Rebate System, colloquially known as “cash for clunkers,” part of the US’s global financial crisis recovery program, “as a model that we can modify.”

“Only that, instead of actually having to buy a new car or jeep, you are paid to retire your old jeep,” the Albay congressman said. “There are some jeepney operators who see buying the new jeeps on loan as too expensive.”

“This helps them get out of the old system without the burden of new loans,” he added.

Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto, for his part, proposed for a larger government subsidy on new units, in addition to “lowering the financial bar to ownership,” where a P2.8 million price tag per public utility vehicle (PUV) unit is downright expensive.

“The present P160,000 government subsidy per new unit is what we spend a year on the free college of just two students, or about 10 families enrolled under 4Ps. So, if you have this much, can we not, as an interim measure, help fund the upgrading of legacy jeeps?” he asked.

The Batangas congressman said billions of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority funds can be used in upgrading traditional jeeps, with the latter serving as learning material for tech-voc students mentored by experts.

The conservative estimate is that the 200,000 traditional jeeps in the country ferry 25 million passengers a day.

“They are the ‘Everything, Everywhere All At Once’ ride. They provide essential services yet treated as eyesores. Improve them. Don’t make them extinct,” he said.

Party-list Reps. Claudine Diana Bautista-Lim of Dumper PTDA and Migs Nograles of PBA also joined the fray.

“No jeepney phase-out by December 2023. No less than Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista clarified that consolidation does not mean the end of the line for traditional jeepneys,” Lim said.

“The deadline set is for operators and drivers to either form or join cooperatives or incorporate themselves into collective juridical entities,” Lim, vice chairperson of the House committee on transportation, said.

Nograles called the scheduled nationwide transport strike as “unnecessary and premature.”

“The President has already made a commitment to hold more consultations with our stakeholders. So I appeal to our drivers and operators to reject this plan to disrupt our public transport,” she said.

The neophyte administration lawmaker urged the PUV sector to consider the long-term benefits of the government’s jeepney modernization program, which is “a necessary step to fix the country’s problematic public transport system.”

Nograles added that the DOTr and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have also announced that the consolidation requirements under the PUV modernization program have been moved from June 30 to Dec. 31 this year.

As the jeepney strike looms, organized labor yesterday sought a review of the government’s jeepney modernization plan.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) urged President Marcos to also tap local manufacturers and rebuilders in the review.

FFW president Sonny Matula said the Marcos administration should review the jeepney modernization plan and ensure that it complies with the Constitution.

“It is not affordable to ordinary drivers and operators and runs contrary to the provisions of the Philippine Constitution,” he pointed out.

“While we don’t oppose jeepney modernization per se, we need to tap local manufacturers and builders rather than favoring foreign manufacturers and suppliers. We shouldn’t forget Francisco, Sarao, Amante, among others,” Matula added.

Matula noted that local builders can produce modern jeepneys in the local workshops and factories with the help of the government.

Meanwhile, state-run Land Bank of the Philippines has set aside P10 billion in loan financing that can be tapped by transport cooperatives to modernize their PUVs.

Under the Special Package for Environment-Friendly and Efficiently-Driven PUVs program of Landbank, P10 billion has been allocated to accommodate more transport cooperatives and corporations.

Landbank said this is the third budget allocation hike it made from the P1.5 billion initial fund when the program started in 2017.

Started by the Duterte administration, the PUV modernization program is being implemented by the DOTr and LTFRB. – Mayen Jaymalin, Louise Maureen Simeon