Jeepney drivers and operators are again threatening to hold a strike, this time on 14 and 15 December. The new transport holiday would come just weeks after their last strike, held from 20 to 24 November, fizzled out as the government stepped in by providing free rides to the inconvenienced commuters.

Members of these groups, especially PISTON and MANIBELA are acting like spoiled brats as they time and again hold the public hostage to get what they want. This latest move is a mere reprise of their last strike to protest the looming 31 December deadline for public utility vehicle consolidation.

They claim that the consolidation under the government's Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program, or PUVMP, would result in the disenfranchisement of many drivers and operators who, they say, cannot afford the new PUVMP vehicles.

The government has been bending over backward to help this sector comply with the PUVMP, but the sense the people are getting from their stubbornness is that they simply want to hold on to their dilapidated jeepneys, whose Jurassic diesel engines have been polluting the country's air for decades.

These operators are merely attempting to postpone the inevitable. To improve the safety and efficiency of public transportation in the Philippines, the PUV modernization program is required. The old jeepneys are simply not up to par, and they must be replaced with newer, more modern vehicles.

We've heard operators claim that the alternatives under the PUVMP are too expensive. However, the government has offered several financial assistance programs to help with the cost of modernization.

The operators also claim that they have the right to remain as single owners of their vehicles. However, this runs counter to the government's duty to regulate public transportation, and this includes setting standards for vehicles and operators.

The public must be allowed to benefit from the economies of scale when it comes to a mass transportation system that utilizes modern vehicles, even if these are owned by well-capitalized companies that can buy the needed units and maintain them too.

The small operators are being consolidated precisely so they can have the needed financial muscle to participate in the PUVMP. After all, it is more acceptable for government and private sector financing bodies to lend money to corporations than to unvetted and unbanked individuals.

No one is above the law, and the PUVMP is the fruit of many laws, although it specifically emanated from Department Order 2017-011, known as the Omnibus Guidelines on the Planning and Identification of Public Road Transportation Services and Franchise Issuance.

The Department of Transportation's DO sets the overall framework for the program.

Additionally, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the government agency responsible for regulating public transportation, has issued various memoranda and circulars further detailing the implementation of the PUVMP.

These include guidelines on vehicle specifications, financial assistance programs and franchise requirements.

While there are no specific laws directly called the "PUVMP Law," its implementation is supported by existing legal provisions, such as Republic Act 4136, also known as the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, which grants the LTFRB the authority to regulate public transportation.

Likewise, there's RA 7160, the Local Government Code, which empowers local government units to regulate transportation within their jurisdictions, further supporting the PUVMP's implementation.

Therefore, although the PUVMP is not a single, stand-alone law, it derives its authority from a combination of existing laws and regulations, making it a legally binding program that the government is duty bound to implement and enforce.

Jeepney drivers and operators need to realize that they are not a special class. In turn, the government, specifically the LTFRB, should stop pandering to these small, noisy groups because the safety and convenience of millions of commuters are at stake.

With this follow-up strike, the LTFRB should explain whatever happened to its much-touted dialogue last November with PISTON and MANIBELA. Was it not enough that the LTFRB dangled to the drivers and operators the extended use of their old jeepneys beyond 2024 as long as they registered this month for the PUVMP?