President Marcos on Wednesday said there would be no further extension of the April 30 deadline for the franchise consolidation under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
During the Bagong Pilipinas townhall meeting in San Juan City, the President underscored the need to proceed with PUVMP without delay.
“The final thing you should expect is that there will be no more extension for the modernization. We really need that,” the Chief Executive said.
“We’re gonna fix (the process)… we’re just making sure that the payment and debt of the driver, operator won’t be too heavy, so we’re doing it properly and we’re making that system well-organized,” Marcos added.
He also ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to crack the whip on colorum vehicles.
“I didn’t realize there were so many, about 30 percent of those operating are colorum. I’ll bring this issue to the Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary now because the police will enforce that and ensure there’s proper documentation, with cooperatives involved and other transport groups, all recognizing the operators,” the President said.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has called on jeepney drivers and operators to join the PUV consolidation before April 30, saying failure to meet the deadline will result in the revocation of their franchises.
“Again, I have to reiterate, this is only until April 30. We need to consolidate because that is the first part of the modernization program,” LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III told reporters.
Last January, the government administration extended anew the deadline for the PUV consolidation due to the strong clamor of transport groups.
Guadiz said the extension given by President Ferdinand Marcos was the last extension on the issue.
“We are asking now the jeepney operators to avail of the last extension because come April 30, we will no longer allow those who did not consolidate to ply the routes of Metro Manila,” Guadiz said.
The franchises of those who fail to meet the consolidation deadline will be revoked by the LTFRB, which will prohibit them from plying Metro Manila routes, Guadiz added.
“We will revoke those franchises, and we will only be allowing those who have consolidated to ply the routes of Metro Manila,” he said.
The three-month extension for the PUV consolidation aims to give an opportunity to those who expressed the intention to consolidate but did not make the previous cut-off.
The Department of Transportation expects the consolidation rate to reach 85 percent by the end of the three-month extension period, from over 70 percent last January.
Last January, over 97 percent of the total 22,284 registered public utility jeepneys in Metro Manila joined the consolidation. Over 1,000 have failed to join the consolidation last December 31 and are expected to apply until April.
As of January, there were 32 models of modern jeepneys plying the roads around the country which are either locally manufactured or locally assembled jeepneys.
In a related development, Guadiz announced the indefinite suspension of the awarding of an additional 10,000 slots of transport network vehicle service (TNVS).
Last March 27, Guadiz said the additional 10,000 TNVS units would provide more jobs for Filipinos.
“As of today, we have only 23,000. And we feel the need for more players because there is a seeming deficiency in public transportation, we awarded 10,000 (slots),” he said.