On 2nd day of PISTON's transport strike, another transport group to hold its own protest action until Friday

Transport group Manibela will join in the last day of the nationwide three-day strike of PISTON on Wednesday, Nov. 22, and will extend it further until Friday this week to protest what it describes as lies being propagated by the government transport agencies on the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Manibela President Mar Valbuena said they have been talking about the transport strike with PISTON (Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide) in the past two weeks and the agreement was that it would start on Wednesday but the latter opted to hold it earlier.

But with the national government downplaying the impact of the transport strike of PISTON, Manibela made its announcement on Tuesday in a press briefing at the UP Hotel in Quezon City.

“Starting tomorrow (Wednesday), Manibela and other transport groups will join the transport strike nationwide. We will join them tomorrow until Friday,” said Valbuena.

Both PISTON and Manibela have been protesting the deadline for consolidation of drivers and operators into either a cooperative or corporation and are both calling for the scrapping of the PUV Modernization.

Valbuena was joined by several transport leaders in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

In the press conference, Valbuena said the transport strike is in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Central Visayas, Western Visayas and some parts of Mindanao, particularly Northern and Central Mindanao.

In holding the transport strike, Valbuena explained that their intention is not to paralyze the public transport system but to air their grievances on the loopholes of the PUVMP that directly affect the livelihood of ordinary drivers and operators.

The promise

Both the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have been seeking a dialogue with the remaining transport groups opposed to the PUVMP.

In separate statements, both the DOTr and the LTFRB said there will be no jeepney phaseout after the Dec. 31 consolidation of drivers and operators into either a cooperative or corporation, which is an initial step towards the modernization of the public utility fleet as stipulated in the PUVMP.

LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said drivers and operators of traditional jeepneys will be given sufficient time to get the modern units—the timeframe is until such time that the Land Transportation Office would declare that the jeepneys are no longer road-worthy.

Guadiz also said that the national government has already approved up to P280,000 subsidy for free and those who would avail of the modern unit could still avail of assistance from the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

“Not true”

In the press conference, Valbuena accused the DOTr and the LTFRB of taking the drivers and operators of traditional jeepneys to a ride, stressing that the statements made are different from what is happening on the ground.

While the LTFRB has been saying that traditional jeepneys could still travel beyond the Dec. 31 consolidation deadline and until the LTO declare that the vehicles are no longer road-worthy, Valbuena said there are provisions in the provisional franchise given to the drivers and operators who already consolidated into a corporation and cooperative to procure a modern unit within six, nine and 12 months after they agreed to the consolidation.

He revealed that following their transport strike last month, the timeframe for the procurement of modern units were extended up to 27 months.

The worst part of it, according to Valbuena, was that the original franchise of the traditional jeepneys were already cancelled, leaving the traditional jeepney drivers and operators who agreed to consolidate with only the provisional franchise as their legal document.

Withdrawal, bank repo

On Monday, Guadiz disclosed that 70 percent of public utility drivers and operators have already consolidated into corporations and cooperatives, adding that 60 percent of drivers and operators in the jeepney sector have also consolidated.

Valbuena, however, claimed that a number of those who agreed to the consolidation have expressed regret on their decision.

He said this was expressed by some of the drivers and operators in some meetings with the DOTr and LTFRB officials in the past.

“They have expressed regret that they agreed to consolidate because after they got the modern unit, they realized that they could not afford the monthly amortization,” said Valbuena.

In some cases, Valbuena said some of the drivers and operators experienced bank repossession of the unit after failing to pay the monthly amortization.

Unreliable? 

Citing experiences of some of the drivers, Valbuena said the electric and solar-powered modern jeepneys were proven to be unreliable.

In fact, he said some of the drivers reported experiencing stalling of the vehicle weeks and months after they used the modern units.

The loopholes in the PUVMP, according to him, is the reason why they are holding protest action.

“We are not doing this with the intention of making our kababayan suffer, we are doing this for us in the transport sector to be heard because what is at stake here is the main source of our livelihood,” said Valbuena.