Jeepney transport cooperatives

WE HEAR so much about “jeepney consolidation” but I think that instead of focusing on that, we should focus on “cooperative formation”, and by that, I mean the formation or the strengthening of transport cooperatives.

To me, that sounds like a causeand- effect relationship, and by that, I mean that cooperativism should be the cause, and consolidation should be the effect.

Long before the idea of “j eepney consolidation” came along, there are many transport cooperatives already, and many of them already own and operate jeepney units.

As the saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. And by that, I mean that we should have just encouraged t he adoption of more jeepney units, but owned and managed by transport cooperatives.

Strictly speaking, it does not even have to be transport coops at all, because it can just be any cooperative that is already selling all kinds of products and services, and all they have to do is to add j eepney operation as another service. That is so simple and easy to do, and any coop can do that.

I am wondering why t he jeepney drivers have to be forced to go into consolidation, if it is going to be profitable to them, meaning that they can make more money out of it. And if they can be offered friendly and affordable financing packages, there should be no need to force them also to buy in.

But the good news is, many coop scan afford to finance their own projects, if and when profitable.

WHO’S ON TOP OF THE WAR AGAINST INVASIVE SPECIES?

Who is on top of the war against invasive species? Or has the government really declared that war?

To name two examples, the janitor fish and the knife fish are still multiplying like crazy in Laguna Lake, and they are probably also wreaking havoc in nearby water systems within the vicinity, including the Pasig River.

Both the janitor fish and the knife fish were originally introduced locally as ornamental fish, but then they escaped into the lakes and rivers when floods came. Either that, or some ir responsible owners simply threw them away, not knowing the problems that they would cause.

Both invasive fish eat the eggs of other fish and even other smaller fish, thus making them a threat to the ecosystems.

Believe it or not, tilapia is also an invasive species, but it has been around for so long such that many people think that it is already a native fish. Native or not, what is important to consider is whether or not it is causing damage to the ecosystems by affecting the real native species, and the answer to that is yes.

Every now and then, we hear about efforts by the LLDA to control the invasive species in the lake, but it seems they are not winning the war. Either that, or t hey are not very good at reporting their victories.

Besides, it should be the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that should be leading this war nationwide, and there are more invasive species to fight./