94 jeepneys lose franchise in Baguio amid modernization program

Jeenpneys in Baguio—ALLAN MACATUNO/FILE PHOTO

BAGUIO CITY—At least 94 jeepneys have lost their franchise to serve passengers in this city but their absence should not disrupt public transport in the near future, an official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Monday.

However, the transport agency’s Cordillera office is still awaiting guidelines as to how it should act against traditional jeepney operators and drivers who continue to ferry residents despite having failed or have refused to combine into fleets as mandated by the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program, Elmer Mendoza, DOTr focal person on the modernization program in the Cordillera, told the city council.

He said displaced drivers and operators would be provided livelihood packages and subsidized training in new skills.

When asked, Mendoza said there was a sufficient number of jeepneys that could take up the routes vacated by drivers and operators who did not consolidate with fellow drivers into transport cooperatives as mandated by the government.

The city had 2,164 licensed jeepneys with individual franchises to operate as PUVs, and 2,070 (96 percent) of them have become or have joined transport cooperatives, which would be required to purchase “modern jeepneys” or minibuses to replace the traditional jeepneys, he said.

Evaluation

According to Mendoza, Baguio’s local transport route plan has passed DOTr evaluation, allowing authorities to transfer some modern jeeps to communities with little or no PUV services.

“There are Baguio routes which have too many PUVs,” he told the council.

Two city routes actually have limited PUV services and jeepney operators there were exempted from the PUV modernization program’s deadline for consolidation, which lapsed on April 30.

PUV modernization, according to Councilor Jose Molintas, is still the subject of a Supreme Court petition filed by transport group Piston in December last year to stop the government program on constitutional grounds. The group questioned the imposition of rules that violated the protection of workers, which has been guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution.

No arrests have been made against unconsolidated jeepneys plying Baguio roads in the meantime, Morales said, pending guidelines or instructions from DOTr officials. —VINCENT CABREZA