LTFRB: Dec. 31 deadline stays

MANILA —As jeepney and UV drivers start their weeklong strike, traditional jeepney drivers will still have to consolidate their vehicles by December 31 — a deadline “subject to review,” but for now, stays, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board said.

“(The) December 31 deadline stays for now, but it will always be subject to review,” LTFRB Chairperson Teofilo Guadiz III said Monday in a streamed press conference.

Guadiz said that while the LTFRB will extend the deadline for the completion of other requirements in the program until 2024, it will stick to the December 31 deadline for consolidation, which is the first step in the jeepney modernization program.

“The deadline may be adjusted if we see that (the drivers) can’t consolidate their vehicles until the end of the deadline,” Guadiz said in Filipino.

Around 100,000 jeepney drivers and operators launched on Monday a week-long transport strike to oppose the government's phaseout of traditional public utility vehicles, which transport group Piston said would kill the livelihood of small-time jeepney operators who cannot afford to join cooperatives.

The LTFRB previously extended the deadline to consolidate fleets to December 31 from June 30 after transport groups scored the government for its seemingly hurried implementation of the program.

Jeepney franchise consolidation, which is the first step in the government’s planned modernization of jeepneys, requires at least 15 franchise holders to form a cooperative, after which they would have to buy modern jeepneys that cost around P2.8 million each.

After speaking to representatives of transport groups, Guadiz said that the LTFRB will "help" drivers process loans needed to purchase modern vehicles.

He added that the regulatory board is now coming up with a memorandum circular that would create a route program that remains profitable for the drivers that will ply its roads.

“The financing can be subject to negotiations. If the (jeepney drivers’) needs are not met by government financing institutions, we can extend the deadline for the modernization program,” Guadiz said.

Mody Floranda, Piston national president, said on March 4 that the LTFRB's deadline extensions are "not enough" to address the concerns of individual operators who stand to lose their franchises from the large corporations that will own the consolidated fleets.

"We're calling for the total junking of the franchise consolidation scheme in favor of a mass-oriented modernization," Floranda said.

MICHAEL VARCAS/PHILSTAR.COM A mechanic checks the engine of one of the jeepneys parked at the FTI Terminal in Taguig City yesterday. Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has invited public utility vehicle operators to a dialogue to address their concerns and grievances over the PUV modernization program and to forgo their planned weeklong strike.