Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Wednesday, January 3 said he believes that the government should step on the brakes for now on the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) and conduct a dialogue with affected jeepney drivers to address problems hounding the plan.

In a television interview on ANC, Pimentel said that the problem is that the program was formulated inside an office by finance people who studied abroad and came up with the idea that through a cooperative, the drivers can pay for units ranging from P1.1 million to P2.2 million.

"I mean those who thought about this program...they may never have been jeepney drivers or operators siguro they graduated from some finance school. On paper sabi nila theoretically this can be done but una sa lahat, there is there should also be a route rationalization program because as I understand it, when they look at all the franchises granted over the transportation routes nakita nila parang wild wild west or free for all," Pimentel said.

"So we have to rationalize that, kung di pa yan ready, who's responsibility is that? Hindi naman yan sa jeepney drivers and operators if that's beyond their power. That's (the) government's responsibility. And if that is not yet ready, and that is an important component of the plan, why are we now disrupting the lives of the jeepney drivers and operators who are earning on a day-to-day basis?" he added.

Pimentel said that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) should investigate why there is no excitement or eagerness to enroll or subscribe to this program.

He pointed out that there may be some drivers who are just earning enough to support their families and are not in debt yet in the program, the initial selling point is that a driver will be in a collective debt within the cooperative.

In a separate interview, Pimentel told reporters that as of now, there is no need for a modernization program. What's important, according to him, is to have a regulation on air pollution.

If the program will continue, as many drivers already threatened to leave should the government push through with the plan, Pimentel said that there may be a shortage on transportation and the riding public will suffer from it.

"There will not be peace and harmony in transport sector. Kailangan kasi may cooperation iyan. Kung may tinatawag na industrial peace, dapat meron ding peace and harmony sa transport sector, hindi lang para sa riding public kung hindi para rin sa operators and drivers (There should be cooperation there. If there's a so-called industrial peace, there should also be peace and harmony in the transport sector, not only with the riding public but also for operators and drivers)," he said.

"Kung hindi na worth it sa kanila, because yung effort nila hindi naman sufficient sa ikabubuhay ng pamilya nila, aalis sila sa sector na yan. (If it's no longer worth it for them, since their effort is no longer sufficient to sustain their families' needs, they will leave that sector). Therefore, kakaunti ang supply ng vehicles, lumalaki ang population, nagiging mobile tayo ((the supply of vehicles will decrease, the popluation is increasing we're getting mobile) we need to move around for our work, for our schooling and our recreation," he added.

Based on DOTr's data, the PUVMP did not garner much support from transport operators in Metro Manila as only 40 percent of them have agreed to join either a corporation or a cooperative.

But on a nationwide basis, DOTr-Office of Transportation Cooperative chairman Jesus Ferdinand Ortega said they achieved the target of around 70 percent of transport operators consolidating as part of the first phase of the country’s transportation modernization.

The deadline for consolidation is on Dec. 31 and President Marcos himself insisted that there will be neither extension nor lifting of the deadline.