THE riding public in the cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay were not stranded by a transport group’s protest against the modernization program for the country’s public transportation system.
They were beset by their everyday enemy—the slow-moving traffic.
The Mandaue City Government had prepared for the Piston-initiated strike in case it would make the lives of its commuting constituents difficult on Monday morning, Sept. 30. 2019.
However, none of the 10 buses tapped by the City was used.
Lawyer John Eddu Ybañez, Mayor Jonas Cortes’s secretary, said four of the buses were stationed at the Mandaue Plaza. A private company agreed to lend six of its buses to the City.
In Cebu City, Councilor Dave Tumulak, who was tasked by Mayor Edgardo Labella to monitor the Piston activity, said the Cebu City residents were not affected. The City prepared 30 buses, but these were not deployed also.
Monthly strike
Greg Perez, president of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper and Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) Cebu Chapter, has vowed that his group would stage its own monthly strike in 2020 if the National Government would not listen to its concerns.
Perez said Piston is for the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), which was launched in 2017. But the group complained that the National Government treated the program as if it is a business.
Piston, he said, does not agree with the immediate PUVs’ phaseout by June 2020.
Under the PUVMP, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) aims to modernize the public transport system and make it environmentally friendly by 2020.
The PUVs like jeepneys and buses that are at least 15 years old must be replaced with safer and eco-friendly ones over the next three years.
There are more than 220,000 PUVs in the country, the DoTr reported.
Franchises at risk
Transportation Undersecretary Mark de Leon said PUV operators who refuse to avail themselves of the PUVMP risk losing their franchises. In an interview with Superbalita Cebu, he said the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) could go after the non-compliant operators.
He said the National Government would be held hostage by these operators “who don’t want to provide good public service.”
“We should hear the commuters; commuters should be given a public transport that they deserve,” de Leon said.
De Leon said the government has done its part in informing the operators that there is a program for them, to help them in acquiring eco-friendly PUVs.
The PUVMP will give an estimated P1.5 billion to transport corporations and cooperatives to purchase new PUVs through the Development Bank of the Philippines’ Program assistance to Support Alternative Driving Approaches, which features a five-percent equity for vehicle purchase, six-percent interest rate and a seven-year repayment period.
De Leon said if an operator goes to a private firm, the usual down payment is around 20 percent of the PUV’s price and this carries a 12 percent interest that must be paid within five years.
Piston’s national leadership had said that the P1.4 million to P1.6 million cost of an eco-friendly PUV would affect around 600,000 jeepney drivers and 300,000 small operators.
The Monday protest saw Perez and his Piston compatriots hold a program outside the LTFRB 7 office in Cebu City. But the group failed to talk with LTFRB 7 Director Eduardo Montealto Jr.
He said drivers and operators want to repair the defects of their jeepneys, and not buy new ones.
Perez blamed the Land Transportation Office for its failure to monitor defective PUVs in the past.
Piston Cebu was joined by members of Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization and other urban poor groups. They ended their protest on Colon St. Some drivers then went back to driving their PUVs, most of which are old. (PAC, FMD, KFD, KAL)