The vindication of ‘Piston 6’
Remember Severino Ramos, Arsenio Ymas, Wilson Ramilla, Ramon Paloma, Ruben Baylon and the septuagenarian Elmer Cordero? Known as the Piston 6, they were the jeepney drivers arrested, detained and charged in June, 2020 for protesting the lack of adequate aid for their fellow “tsuper” and other transport workers.
They were released after much public uproar and also after being made to post bail of ₱3,000 to ₱10,000 each, which was paid for by concerned fellow citizens. The drivers were asking for aid and to be allowed to ply their routes again; but the state instead fined them.
More than a year later, we bring up their names anew because of a Commission on Audit report that vindicates them and their just cause.
In its 2020 report, the COA said: “Delays in the implementation of the Service Contracting Program landing from two to 10 weeks as at December 31, 2020 resulted in the minimal fund utilization of only ₱59,720,089.25 or 1.07 percent of the total project fund of ₱5,580,000,000.00, thereby delaying the intended benefits to the PUV drivers and operators.”
“Furthermore, only a total of 29,871 drivers of 49.79 percent of the 60,000 targeted driver-participants were registered in the Program as at year-end,” the COA added.
Yes, folks. The COA found that the LTFRB shelled out a measly ₱59.72-million out of a total budget of ₱5.58-billion. Just imagine how many families of our jeepney drivers and operators could have been aided and saved from near-certain hunger, loss of livelihood and other indignities.
Subsequent reports from the DOTR and the LTFRB claimed that disbursements reached ₱322.4 million as of May 2021.
By June, the agencies claimed disbursements amounting to ₱1.9billion.
With the expiration of the Bayanihan 2 law, the nation’s jeepney drivers and operators effectively lost access to the remaining ₱2.68-billion that should have gone speedily to them since 2000.
Drivers and operators of PUVs and PUJs are among the top casualties in the world’s longest lockdown and the continuing “community quarantines.” The government has been loudly claiming that aid was made available to them, but it turned out that the money did not reach them.
Both agencies are now asking Congress to “replenish” them with new funds to replace the ₱2.68billion that have been returned to the national treasury because they were unable to disburse them. They are asking for more money when they have shown to be slow and inept in doing that.
Congress should investigate the acts, programs and policies of the DOTR and LTFRB throughout the lockdowns and the quarantines. One matter that cries out for congressional and senatorial investigation are the pandemic-related restrictions placed on PUVs and PUJs nationwide.
International authorities on public health and on transportation have repeatedly emphasized since the start of the pandemic the need for the continuous operation of public transportation to serve the public, and specifically the preference for
PUVs that are open-air and well-ventilated. Our traditional jeepneys fit this preference to a T. They are all open-air and well-ventilated. But the DOTR and the LTFRB banned jeepneys for a prolonged period, deprived jeepney drivers and operators of Congressprovided aid by the billions, and instead preferred newer PUVs that are enclosed, air-conditioned and thus dangerous to public health considering the nature of the coronavirus.
Congress should also investigate the permissions, authorizations and assistance granted by the DOTR and LTFRB to a select few private bus operators that now monopolize what’s supposed to be public transportation, specifically the so-called EDSA Carousel Busway.
We hope both the House and the Senate would summon jeepney drivers, operators and organizations of transport workers and commuters when legislators deliberate on the 2022 budgets for the DOTR and LTFRB, and evaluate the agencies’ performance of their duties and how they spent their 2021 budgets.
Representatives and senators should also invite a group that personifies our transport workers whose cause have been vindicated, whose situation needs to be addressed, and who should be better served, not neglected, by agencies such as the DOTR and LTFRB.
The Piston 6 should be there.