ENDEAVOR
“I was seven years old when I joined my first rally. I stood with my father at the frontline of a jeepney strike that aimed to raise the minimum fare. For some, the rising price of fuel meant less profit. For my family, it meant skipping another meal; it meant more debt and more promissory notes.”
Thus spoke Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña as she delivered the valedictory speech at the Ateneo de Manila University’s commencement exercises in 2019.
Last weekend, I came across a Viber chat group post linked to a videoclip featuring her impassioned plea for a better way of implementing the jeepney modernization program that triggered the call for a nationwide transport this week. Leaders of Piston and Manibela met with Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, then announced the end of the strike, as well as a continuing dialogue on the issues.
Hya, who also served as Ateneo student council president, summed up the appeal of the affected drivers and their families. They are seeking to be involved in every step of the modernization program that calls for the consolidation of jeepney drivers into cooperatives. Upfront cooperative registration fee is ₱300,000 plus ₱20,000 for each member. Hence, a 20-member cooperative has to put up ₱700,000 – an amount that they don’t have.
Each unit of the modern jeepney costs from ₱1.5 to ₱2 million; government equity is only ₱350,000. Hya says this should be raised to 50 percent of the required equity. Aside from the formidable financial hurdles, there is also a requirement for a Local Public Transport Plan formulated by the local government unit (LGU) to ensure the rational identification of routes. She says many LGUs have yet to come up with this plan, thereby hindering compliance by transport cooperatives.
In essence, government is being asked to increase its equity in transport cooperatives as well as its subsidy in the acquisition of modern jeepneys to enable the drivers to put up their share in the transport cooperatives.
In sum, says Hya, “Allow us to co-design the transition plan.” She says that the drivers have children, like her – who are now transport engineers, urban planners, policy researchers and lawyers – who could assist meaningfully in crafting a better plan.
Any fair-minded Filipino would regard Hya’s plea as being timely and on-point.
From the time I started going to school at age five through my college years at UP, I have witnessed how jeepney drivers have borne the brunt of public transportation. Before LRT Line 1 was completed in 1985, jeepneys dominated the Monumento-Baclaran route and other major routes in the metropolis. During the First Quarter Storm that coincided with my college years in the early ’70s, the militant transport sector was at the forefront of protests against what were then regarded as unreasonable oil price increases. That was before the onset of oil price deregulation.
I recall the strenuous efforts of then Energy Regulatory Board Chair Rex Tantiongco to moderate the process of implementing oil price hikes because of its volatile repercussions. He went out of his way – and beyond the call of duty – to assist drivers in obtaining additional income to help tide them over difficult times. That was when I was serving as transportation undersecretary in President Corazon Aquino’s administration.
When I served in the same post during the Estrada administration, I had the opportunity to conduct direct talks with the jeepney organization leaders when they called a strike to protest what they regarded as unfair imposition of fines and unreasonably strict implementation of traffic rules. I respected them for their civility and perseverance in propagating their cause.
As pointed out by Hya, there is a big number of 50- to 60-year old and even older drivers who deserve to get social security benefits for their many years of rendering a vital public service. It’s ironic that they don’t have any social safety nets. They suffered much during the pandemic and during the long periods of lockdown when public transportation was curtailed severely. They deserve a fairer deal than what they are presently getting.
Hya Bendaña submitted an essay, Prayer for Generosity, as part of her application for selection as valedictorian of Ateneo’s 2019 graduating class. I am taking the liberty of sharing with readers some excerpts from Hya’s essay that we could all reflect upon as we ponder the state of our nation and its future:
“Generosity is the exception, not the norm in this country. We need a more generous Ateneo, but that is not the solution to this nation’s problems. What we need is a country that resembles a generous Ateneo. Inequality in the Philippines means that there is a hill, and the rest is down from the hill. We must dream of something better than this…it is my honor and duty to make things more just, to share whatever light I can, especially to those who have only known darkness.”