Transport groups to stage strike anew

Transport groups PISTON and MANIBELA announced on Friday that they would conduct a transport strike from 23 to 24 September 2024 to protest the government’s Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).

In a statement, PISTON national president Mody Floranda stressed that the PTMP’s failures have been repeatedly exposed in Congress and that the Senate has also supported the group’s position to scrap the PTMP.

“However, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and his DoTr and LTFRB officials remain stubborn,” Floranda said.

PISTON said the protest action aims to address the demands of the transport sector which include junking of the PTMP, cancellation of forced franchise consolidation, renewal of franchises and registrations for all public utility vehicles (PUVs), including those who choose not to consolidate.

It also includes the zero budget for PUV phaseout programs, with funding redirected towards the rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys and subsidies for local industries and to allow those who have entered franchise consolidation to withdraw.

PISTON also called on other local government units to follow Bacolod City Council’s resolution seeking to suspend the PTMP to pressure the national government.

The PTMP, formerly known as the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), was launched in 2017 to replace jeepneys with Euro 4-compliant vehicles to reduce pollution. It also aims to replace units that are no longer roadworthy.

A modern jeepney unit costs over P2 million, an amount that even state-run banks LandBank and Development Bank of the Philippines deemed too expensive for PUV drivers and operators.

The consolidation of individual PUV franchises into cooperatives or corporations is the initial stage of the modernization program.

Initially, the LTFRB said that PUVs that did not consolidate after the 30 April 2024 deadline would be considered “colorum” or operating without a franchise.