LTFRB says 3 of Piston’s demands ‘doable’ amid transport strike

MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday said that it is willing to give in to three of Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide’s (Piston) demands amid a three-day transportation strike.

In a press conference on Tuesday, LTFRB spokesperson Cieline Pialago listed a total of three demands that the agency said were “doable.”

The first, said Pilago, was the waiving of penalties for jeepney operators on processing their yearly confirmation fees, and the second was extending the validity of operators’ and drivers’ franchises from one to five years.

However, they should first be part of a cooperative to be granted a five-year franchise.

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“Once mag-consolidate and maging part ng cooperative, magiging 5 years ang franchise,” said Pialago.

(Once consolidated and has become a part of a cooperative, the franchise will be for five years.)

Lastly, Pialago said the LTFRB is also willing to revise the omnibus franchising guidelines.

“Gusto nila alisin and ibasura ‘yung omnibus franchising guidelines, ang gusto ni [LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III] i-revisit, i-revise, that’s doable also,” said Pialago.

(They want to remove and scrap the omnibus franchising guidelines; LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III wants to revisit and revise, which is doable also.)

One non-negotiable 

However, the LTFRB remained firm that it would not be scrapping the consolidation process.

“The word ‘scrap’ is not negotiable, but pwede i-simplify ‘yung proseso ng consolidation process, at ‘yun po ‘yung approved ‘yung pag-simplify,” said Pialago.

(The word ‘scrap’ is not negotiable, but the consolidation process can be simplified, and that is the approved simplification.)

“So out of four, meron pong tatlong doable. ‘Yung isa is non-negotiable,” she added.

(So out of four, three are doable. One is non-negotiable.)

According to Pialago, Guadiz is set to formally meet with Piston national president Mody Floranda on Tuesday afternoon to talk about how best to simplify the franchising guidelines and to reach common ground on how to simplify the process of consolidating into a cooperative.

Piston is currently holding a three-day nationwide transport strike, which started on Monday, Nov. 20, in protest of the December 31 deadline for the consolidation of traditional public utility jeepneys.