Gov’t offers Labor Day ‘gift’ to jeepney drivers

Officials of the Department of Transportation and Department of Finance signed on Sunday an agreement for a financing mechanism for drivers who would be affected by the government’s jeepney modernization program.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade dubbed the agreement, which was signed on the eve of Labor Day, “a gift” from President Duterte to public utility vehicle drivers who have been asking what assistance they would get from the government with the phaseout of old jeepneys.

Under LandBank’s special program for environment-friendly and efficiently-driven jeepneys, drivers can avail themselves of a P1.4 million- to P1.6 million-loan package to buy either an air-conditioned electric, hybrid or Euro-4 jeepney.

LandBank president Alex Buenaventura said that the driver could end up owning the jeepney since he would be the listed borrower for the loan which must be paid within seven years at an interest rate of 6 percent.

He added that the financing scheme would be similar to the traditional boundary system as drivers would pay the bank P800 daily through its designated cash deposit machines.