MANILA, Philippines — The govertnment has lowered its target of consolidating jeepney drivers and operators into cooperatives and corporations by the end of 2023—a policy being pushed alongside the much-contested phaseout of the "hari ng kalsada."
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board earlier moved the deadline of jeepney consolidation to December 31 of this year after drivers and operators staged a multi-day transport strike against the then-scheduled phaseout of June 30.
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"The original plan was to have the consolidation 100% by 2021. It was deferred to March of 2023. And then we made another deferment up to June 30. But because of clamor from the drivers and operators, we extended it to December 31," said Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista in a press conference Wednesday.
"As of now, 60%... is already consolidated. And we're hoping that with the deadline of December 31, we'll have maybe 80 to 90% consolidation."
LTFRB chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III earlier clarified that the December 31 deadline is for the consolidation and not for the phaseout of traditional jeepney units. The phaseout, he said, would be the last stage of the PUV Modernization Program which would happen at a latter time.
Operators are expected to surrender their individual franchises for consolidation into a Fleet Management System under the contriiversial PUV Modernization Program. Here, cooperatives are required to purchase 15 minibuses per route.
Expensive modern 'e-jeeps'
Transport groups like PISTON and Manibela continue to oppose the forced consolidation and phaseout of traditional jeepneys, saying that modern minibuses are too expensive for operators and drivers =—some of which are priced at P2.8 million per unit, that they said will bury them in debt.
The groups however do not oppose PUV modernization per se, but are opting for a "more humane approach" such as rehabilitating vehicles and not phasing out traditional jeeps which are compliant with regulations regardless of the vehicles' age.
They earlier ended their strike after the government reportedly agreed to "review" its modernization program, this while challenging President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to issue an executive order scrapping the Department of Transportation's Department Order No. 2017-011, which defines the rules and requirements of the PUV modernization program, alongside and LTFRB Memorandum Circular 2023-013.
'Benefits of consolidation'
Bautista continued to urge transport groups to consolidate into cooperatives and corporations while highlighting the "benefits" being enjoyed by operators and drivers who already complied.
"Those who consolidated, they were able to experience the benefit of consolidation. Because if you consolidate, you don't compete with the other members of the cooperative," said Bautista.
"And then there's right dispatching, there's right maintenance of the vehicles, there is right operations. The drivers are trained well. The drivers are paid at least minimum wage, they're getting the benefits of SSS and Medicare. And that is one of the many reasons why the government is pushing for this modernization."
The current minimum wage in the National Capital Region stands at P533 to P570, the highest in the Philippines. Many traditional jeepneys operate using the "boundary" system to this day wherein drivers must ensure operators of fee called the boundary. Whatever the driver earns in excess of that would be his/her income for the day.