Clear plan urged amid PUVMP suspension push

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

With the growing call for the suspension of the controversial Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), Councilor Sedfrey Cabaluna emphasized the need for a government decision that does not disadvantage any part of the transport sector.

Cabaluna, chairperson of the city council’s transport committee, welcomed the move but stressed that the decision should be conclusive and final.

If the suspension is implemented, the city councilor called on the government to clarify the implications for stakeholders.

“If the decision is already final, I hope there is also a clear measure for those who have complied,” he said.

“What I fear is they will just leave those who have complied. I am meeting with some of the transport cooperatives, and in the city, we registered a large volume of jeepney units that have complied with the program’s requirements,” he added.

In a committee hearing on Tuesday, July 23, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Sen. Raffy Tulfo sought the suspension of the PUVMP until all issues surrounding it were resolved.

Escudero urged Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, to file a resolution urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to temporarily halt the program.

Cabaluna criticized the government’s indecisiveness in implementing the program since its launch in 2017.

“The problem really is the dilly-dally of the national government in the implementation of the PUVMP,” he said in an interview on Wednesday, July 24.

He stressed that even before he was elected as a city councilor, all local government units (LGUs) were ordered to comply, and changes in the administration delayed plans to modernize the country’s jeepney systems.

Iloilo City is among the first LGUs to comply with the components of the PUVMP, particularly the route rationalization study, fleet modernization, industry consolidation, and pilot implementation.

The city also implemented its enhanced local public transport route planning (LPTRP) on May 27.

Cabaluna noted that jeepney drivers and operators in the city are already committed to the program, with some taking loans from state-run banks to modernize their vehicles.

LTFRB data showed that 1,692 traditional jeepney units, or 75 percent in Iloilo City, have complied with the consolidation requirement of the PUVMP.

The mandatory consolidation measure of the PUVMP forces individual franchise holders and operators of PUJs to “consolidate” by forming or joining cooperatives or corporations, a move that would eventually phase out old jeepneys in favor of modern units.