Revilla’s plea: Allow PUVs to resume operations

MANILA, Philippines—  Let  public  utility  vehicles resume operations for the sake of thousands of PUV drivers and the commuting public.

Senator  Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.  issued the appeal on Friday, citing  the “unimaginable challenges”  commuting workers endured when parts of the country, including Metro Manila, shifted to general  community quarantine on June 1.

“Baka naman pwedeng i-consider ang pagbalik pasada ng ating mga public utility vehicles,”  Revilla said in a statement.

(Maybe we can consider  allowing public utility vehicles to resume operations)

“We hit two birds with one stone — matutugunan natin ang pangangailangan ng publiko sa transportasyon habang ibinabalik ang hanapbuhay ng mga namamasadang natengga ng halos tatlong buwan,” he  said.

(We hit two birds with one stone — we   can address the public’s transportation requirements  while  giving back the livelihood of PUV  drivers who have been displaced for almost three months.)

The senator  believes the  transportation  sector  is now ready to resume operations and comply with health and safety guidelines.

Revilla  asked the  Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases  to immediately review its public transportation policy, warning  that the  lack of safe mass transportation services may trigger the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Revilla added that it  would  be unfair to require private businesses recovering from the pandemic to provide shuttle services to their employees.

He noted that 85 percent of businesses in the country are micro, small and medium enterprises  that have no capability to incur huge capital expenditures coming out of the  enhanced community quarantine.

“Ang isang shuttle van na magcocomply sa social distancing, mga pito ang maisasakay, halos two million pesos ang isa. Hindi kaya ng mga nagrerecover na businesses yang ganyang kalaking gastos at this time,” he pointed out .

(One  shuttle van can only carry some seven passengers with social distancing protocols. Each unit costs around P2 million each. Businesses that are still recovering from the pandemic cannot afford to spend  that huge amount at this time)

GSG