Drivers of the country’s public utility jeepneys (PUJs) sought on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Supreme Court’s (SC) intervention on the alleged government discrimination on their operations despite the easing up of lockdowns in many areas amid the corona virus disease pandemic.
In a petition filed by the officers and members of the National Confederation of Transport Workers Union (NCTU), the SC was asked to nullify 16 government issuances that affected PUJ operations in the country.
They asked the SC to conduct oral arguments on their petition so they could better amplify their plight.
Named respondents in the petition were Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III as chairperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, Martin B. Delgra III as chairperson of the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), and Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.
The petitioners said “the respondents’ actions of excluding traditional PUJs when all other PUVs were allowed, including modernized jeepneys, run contrary to the equal protection clause of the Constitution.”
The petitioners told the SC that the government -- particularly the LTFRB, the DOTr and the IATF-EID – “prohibited petitioners from plying the roads on all areas under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in March 2020….”
“Even as the government eased quarantine measures and gradually allowed other public utility vehicles (PUVs) back on the road, traditional PUJs were placed last in priority—or not at all,” they said.
“To make matters worse, the issuances of respondents showed an obvious preference to modernized jeepneys even though petitioners aver that no substantial distinction exists between modernized and traditional jeepneys,” they added.
“These events,” they pointed out, “snatched the petitioners’ right to work for at least four (4) months -- and counting….”
“Traditional jeepney drivers are fed up with the state’s inconsistent standards and issuances regarding public transportation,” they stressed.
Sought to be nullified for alleged violations of the Constitution are LTFRB Board Resolution No. 060 Series of 2020, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-019, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-023, -023A, -023B, and -023C, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-026, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-029 and -029A, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-036, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-037.
LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-040, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-041, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-043, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-045, LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2020-046, DOTr Guidelines dated May 29, 2020, IATF-EID Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines dated April 29, 2020, and IATF-EID Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines dated May 15, 2020.