No jeepney phaseout after deadline? Transport execs, senators differ

MANILA, Philippines— Transport officials assured senators on Thursday that there is no phaseout of traditional jeepneys even after the new December 31 deadline for them to consolidate their routes and join cooperatives.

For the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the memorandum issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) only “pertains to the end of consolidation period.”

“Hindi po ito yung tinatawag na phase out. It’s not,” DOTr Undersecretary Mark Steven Pastor said  during the hearing of the Senate committee on public services.

(This is not the so-called phaseout. It’s not.)

“Ang consolidation po, even if you’re a traditional jeep, so long as you’re consolidated, tatakbo pa rin kayo,” Pastor pointed out.

(Consolidation means that even if you’re a traditional jeep so long as you’re consolidated, you can still operate.)

Consolidation of jeepney operations and routes is part of the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program.

LTFRB  chairman Teofilo Guadiz III  confirmed the DOTr’s interpretation of their December  31 deadline for consolidation.

“The deadline for December 31 is not for the phaseout of the jeepneys. The deadline is  only for the consolidation urging the drivers to come together, consolidate as one and start the formation of a cooperative  in pursuit of the modernization,” Guadiz explained.

He added that there are still other stages of the modernization program after consolidation.

“The phaseout would be the last stage,” the  LTFRB chief stressed.

“What we’re just trying to seek at this stage  is just a consolidation.  Wala pa po kami sa stage ng phaseout, malayo pa po yun. Multi-stages po itong modernization program…” Guadiz   further explained.

(What we’re just trying to seek at this stage is just a consolidation. We are not in the stage of phaseout yet. This modernization program is multi-stage.)

But senators contradicted them.

“Hindi. Pag hindi ka naka-consolidate wala ka ng provisional authority to operate,” Senator Grace Poe, the panel head, countered the LTFRB chief.

Senator Nancy Binay agreed with Poe.

(If you fail to consolidate, you will lose your provisional authority to operate.)

“Di ba pag hindi po sila nag consolidate, ilang jeepney yung mawawala sa kalsada?” Binay also asked.

(If they don’t consolidate, how many jeepneys will not be allowed to ply the roads.)

Before Binay could get a reply to her question, Poe pointed out that in the memorandum, the Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) of jeepney operators who would fail to join an existing consolidated entity after December would be reverted to the state.

“Anong ibig sabihin nun, hindi ba bawi yun?” Poe asked.

Binay also insisted that it was really a phaseout and not a “consolidation” as transportation officials would like to call it.

“Dinadaan nyo din sa magandang salita na hindi naman phaseout, consolidation. Pero the mere fact hindi makakapag consolidate, technically parang phini-phase out nyo na sila,” she said.

(You’re you just saying it’s not a phaseout but consolidation. But because they could not consolidate, you’re already phasing them out.)

At this point, Poe asked  Guadiz to answer yes or no if old jeepneys would be phased out if they failed to consolidate their operations.

To this, Guadiz answered no.

“Hindi po sila matatagnggal  kasi po…we’re trying to help them consolidate   and we will continue to assist them and will see to  it that no one is left behind. That is my commitment and the commitment of my agency,” he said.

“Maganda lang pakinggan no,” Poe answered.

JPV/abc