Modernization Betrayed: Investment, Jobs at Risk

The Philippine government’s wavering stance on the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) has once again placed the country’s transport future on shaky ground.

In Iloilo City, the consequences are more immediate and more painful.

The Western Visayas Alliance of Transport Cooperative and Corporation Inc. (WVATCCI) invested close to PHP1.4 billion to modernize local public transport, purchasing 555 modernized units and employing nearly 2,800 workers.

This investment was made in good faith, following government mandates under the Local Public Transport Route Plan (LPTRP), which Iloilo City meticulously crafted in coordination with national authorities.

Now, all that hard work—and the jobs, businesses, and public service improvements it enabled—are under threat.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) recently floated the possibility of allowing unconsolidated traditional jeepneys to return to routes already assigned to consolidated cooperatives.

This move, meant to appease groups that failed to meet the April 2024 consolidation deadline, undermines not only the PUVMP but also the entire principle of rule-based governance.

Policy flip-flopping has real costs.

Investors who believed in the modernization drive are now questioning whether their billions of pesos were wasted.

Cooperative members who took out loans to fund their units now fear losing their livelihoods.

Ordinary commuters, who were promised safer, cleaner, and more efficient transport, now face the risk of continued fragmentation and disorganization on the roads.

Modernization was not conceived merely as a cosmetic change.

It was meant to elevate the public transport system from its decades-long struggle with inefficiency, safety risks, and environmental degradation.

Modernized jeepneys are not perfect, but they represent a step toward a more disciplined and sustainable future.

Allowing unconsolidated traditional jeepneys to operate freely without consolidation or modernization sacrifices the very goals that the PUVMP sought to achieve.

Public safety should never be a bargaining chip in political negotiations.

The riding public deserves vehicles that meet basic standards of roadworthiness, environmental compliance, and passenger comfort. Transport policy must serve the commuter first, not the political survival of any group.

There is no denying, however, that traditional jeepney drivers have legitimate grievances. For many, consolidation meant financial burdens they could not bear. The cost of a modern unit—averaging PHP1.5 million—is staggering for small operators. Access to affordable financing was often promised but not fully delivered.

The administrative hurdles for securing new franchises or forming cooperatives were daunting, especially for drivers unfamiliar with complex legal and bureaucratic processes.

In many ways, the unconsolidated jeepney operators are victims, too—victims of an ambitious policy poorly implemented.

But the solution to this injustice is not to abandon modernization altogether or to selectively suspend the rules.

It is to provide better transition mechanisms: subsidized financing, administrative support, capacity-building programs, and a rational, humane timeframe for compliance. We must not confuse the call for fairness with a call for anarchy.

Allowing exceptions now punishes those who complied—cooperatives like WVATCCI who poured in billions of pesos, trusted the government’s word, and reshaped their operations to meet national goals.

If rules are negotiable, why should anyone invest in national programs in the future?

Iloilo City’s transport plan itself hangs in the balance. The LPTRP was a painstaking process involving studies, consultations, and difficult decisions about which routes to rationalize and which vehicles to deploy. It was designed to bring order to chaos, offering commuters predictable, safe, and comfortable rides.

National backpedaling on modernization risks undermining all of that work. Creating new developmental routes to accommodate unconsolidated jeepneys is not a simple matter. It requires years of planning, environmental studies, traffic simulations, and public consultations.

Expanding route allocations overnight is not just illegal under the current ordinance—it is also logistically irresponsible.

The government faces a critical test of political will. Will it uphold the modernization agenda that it aggressively pushed for years? Or will it retreat into populist appeasement, sacrificing public safety, private investment, and commuter welfare in exchange for short-term peace?

The transport modernization movement must not leave anyone behind—but neither can it allow sentimentality or political expediency to derail its course.

The challenge is not to return to the old, fragmented, and inefficient system. The challenge is to build a future where modernization is inclusive, humane, and genuinely transformative.

That future demands commitment, clarity, and courage—not flip-flopping at every turn. The modernization program deserves to succeed because our commuters deserve better.

The cooperatives who invested deserve to be protected because trust in government deserves to be honored. The traditional jeepney drivers who resisted deserve a fairer chance—not false promises or tokenistic appeasement.

Sustainability, not sentimentality, must drive Philippine transport policy. The road ahead will be hard, but it is the only path worth taking.