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LTFRB won't cancel consolidation process, but says Piston's other demands doable

Published Nov 22, 2023 04:01 am  |  Updated Nov 22, 2023 04:01 am

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) would not give in to the demand of a protesting transport group to cancel the consolidation process of drivers and operators of traditional jeepneys into a corporation or cooperative as part of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).

Instead, the LTFRB said it is willing to have a compromise with the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) on the issue of extending the validity of the franchise of the traditional jeepneys to five years.

Aside from franchise validity, LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III said the agency is also willing to a have a compromise on the two other demands of Piston—the waiving of penalties for failure to consolidate and removing certain provisions of the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG).

Guadiz said all the three demands of Piston are doable.

“The Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is addressing all of PISTON's requests, but we're in the process of finalizing necessary documents, which will take some time,” the LTFRB statement read. 

“However, the request to scrap the ‘Consolidation Process’ is not feasible. Still, Chairman Guadiz suggests that we can make the process simpler,” it added. 

The consolidation, which is an initial step to the fleet modernization in the country, is the major reason behind the three-day transport strike of Piston and the extended protest action by Manibela until Friday.

The deadline for the consolidation will be on Dec. 31. 

LTFRB spokesperson Ceiline Pialago urged the remaining drivers and operators to submit at least an intent to consolidate, saying the document that would come from the agency in response will be one of the requirements for the renewal of registration of the Land Transportation Office.

So far, the LTFRB said 70 percent of the PUVs in the country have already consolidated while 60 percent of jeepney drivers and operators did the same.

Guadiz said they are hoping to achieve around 85 to 90 percent consolidation after the Dec. 31 deadline.

 

Related Tags

PUV Modernization Program LTFRB Transport strike
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