Piston to SC: Stop gov’t orders for jeepney upgrade, Dec 31 deadline

FILE PHOTO: Transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) holds a strike on December 14, 2023, in protest of the December 31 deadline for franchise consolidation applications. INQUIRER.net photo / Arnel Tacson

MANILA, Philippines — A group of public transport drivers, operators, and commuters on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to suspend the implementation and ultimately void certain government directives related to the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Piston Chairman Mody Floranda, along with four other petitioners from the commuter and jeepney sectors, urged the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a writ of preliminary injunction to prevent the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) from implementing several issuances regarding jeepney modernization and the December 31, 2023 deadline for mandatory consolidation of PUV franchise.

READ: LTFRB-Piston talks fail to solve impasse

The petitioners also asked the SC to look into the constitutionality of the various orders of the LTFRB and DOTr.

“The constitutionality issues raised in this Petition lie at the very root of this case, inasmuch as the dispute cannot be resolved, and resolved once and for all, unless the Honorable Court disposes of the same,” the petition states.

According to the petitioners, issuances of the DOTr and LTFRB violate the constitutional right to freedom of association, and the voluntary nature of a cooperative under Republic Act 9250 or the Cooperative Code.

“The petitioners come before this Honorable Court seeking provisional relief to enjoin the respondents from enforcing the assailed DOTr and LTFRB issuances pendente lite and, after proper proceedings, a judgment declaring the said administrative issuances null and void for being unconstitutional,” the petition states.

Under the guidelines that the DOTr issued in 2017, PUV operators and drivers must form transport cooperatives or similar legal entities so they could join the PUVMP.

PUVMP aims to modernize the public transportation sector and calls for PUVs 15 years old or older to be replaced with modern vehicles.

The LTFRB said 70 percent of operators had already been consolidated, but Piston noted that only 26 percent of passenger jeepneys and 36 percent of UV Express taxis in Metro Manila have so far been consolidated.

No less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. decided that the deadline for the consolidation of PUV operators will not be extended, saying that “we cannot let the minority cause further delays.”