Change has many foes

For some strange reason, it is now trade groups, through a manifesto, that are taking up the cudgels for the drivers and operators against the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) by rehashing the argument that electric vehicles are too expensive for an ordinary operator.

The groups, which would be the first to benefit from an efficient public transport system as their workers would be more productive after spending less time on the road, argued that a “just transition” was lacking under the PUVMP which they asserted was marked by a lack of consultation.

The petition for yet another deferment of the PUVMP implementation was signed by several groups led by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and it was timed for today’s end of the grace period for the consolidation process under the program.

But the premise of the petitioners is not even accurate as the jeepneys are not being phased out. The requirement is that jeepney operators must be members of a cooperative to facilitate the eventual shift to modern vehicles. Even the use of electric vehicles remains the subject of discussion under the modernization plan.

Political accommodation, lack of priority from the legislature, and the exploitation by vested interest groups have frustrated the effort now on its 20th year to rationalize basic public transportation. Opportunist politicians who indulged transport groups, particularly the megaphones of the communist party, were instrumental in pushing back the modernization program.

Congress’ snail-paced action on a law to facilitate the shift to the so-called e-jeepneys contributed to suppressing the program.

The Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) was approved during the twilight of the Duterte administration, effectively postponing all efforts to modernize. The EVIDA seeks to resolve the main impediment to the use of electric vehicles through the designation of charging stations.

The program to shift to the use of electric jeepneys was initiated back in 2012 while the phase-out program started as far back as 2002 during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

During the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, among his administration’s key programs was a modern transport system. The plan was to have the jeepneys replaced with electric vehicles before his term ended but the pandemic interrupted the program. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board then shelved the mandatory phase-out that had started in 2017.

Since then, perennial threats of strikes had stalled the program.

“Nationwide” mass actions, largely instigated by left-wing groups, were called but they never prospered beyond a day, yet the transport groups which had built a reputation for intimidation always had their way.

Before the late President Noynoy Aquino left office, transport groups held a caravan to the gates of Malacañang in a show of force to demand an end to the modernization plan.

The groups even threatened to campaign against Mar Roxas, then being groomed to succeed Noynoy, and the other LP candidates in the 2016 national elections.

The groups then were able to swing another reprieve, but now after the government announced the program will be resumed as normalcy returns, the protesters are again using coercion against the government.

The political will to implement the modernization program appears to have been harnessed under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who needs to remain steadfast against the increasing number of the program’s detractors.

The voice of the ultimate beneficiaries of the program — the commuters — is usually drowned out by the noisemakers who have an agenda that is more than preserving the World War 2 icons.