Top officials of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have agreed to the request of the protesting transport group to allow the rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys in a bid to show that the government is not working for an immediate phaseout of jeepneys after the Dec. 31 deadline for consolidation.
In a meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14, LTFRB chairman Teofilo Guadiz III stressed anew that the Dec. 31 deadline for operators and drivers to consolidate into either cooperative or corporation will not be extended.
In the same meeting, Guadiz also clarified some of the issues being raised by transport groups on the issue of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) such as allegations of mandatory procurement of modern jeepneys and immediate jeepney phaseout.
The meeting of Guadiz and Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) national president Mody Floranda happened during the first day of the latter’s two-day transport strike on Thursday.
The group is demanding the junking of the department order that paved the way for the guideline on the issuance of franchise for modern jeepneys, and the lifting of the Dec. 31 deadline.
In the past transport strikes, the LTFRB agreed to some of the requests of the transport groups, particularly in simplifying the process of consolidation, waiving of penalties, allowing two to three cooperatives to be formed for one route and for less than 15 operators and drivers to consolidate.
At Thursday's meeting, Guadiz also yielded to the request of Piston to allow the rehabilitation of the traditional jeepneys and to translate the memorandum circular relating to the PUVMP and consolidation process.
The rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys is in line with the assurance of the LTFRB that it will not immediately phase out traditional jeepneys and in fact, would give its operators enough time to shift to modern jeepneys.
The LTFRB also agreed before to extend the franchise of traditional jeepneys for five years, provided that they have to comply with the Dec. 31 deadline for consolidation.
Florenda earlier said that they are not opposing the modernization but the process and system leading to it, which he said, put ordinary drivers and operators at a losing end.
Guadiz, for his part, asked the protesting transport group to consolidate first in order to comply with the provisions of the PUVMP.