Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday, May 2 urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to work with Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to procure modern private utility vehicles (PUVs).

These PUVs, the senator said, can be leased to consolidated transport cooperatives to make up for the transport shortage the government has created due to the PUV Modernization Program.

“This drastic problem requires a drastic solution. The DOTr should ask the help of Landbank and DBP, including their asset management entities so they can opt for lease contracts for now instead of amortization contracts for transport cooperatives that until now have no idea if they can keep up with the modernization program,” Hontiveros said.

“The DOTr should use its 2024 and 2025 subsidy budgets to purchase modern PUVs for leasing to cooperatives, that may later choose to enter into a lease-to-own arrangement with the government if the routes that will later be assigned to them will prove to be profitable,” she suggested.

Without any clear route plans, Hontiveros said transport cooperatives are unsure whether they will be financially viable, making them averse to purchasing larger but more expensive modern jeeps.

However, banks are also unlikely to agree to lend to them.

“Since the DoTr and Malacañang have forced drivers and operators off their routes and off the roads by saying that only those that have joined coops and corporations can continue to ply their old routes there won’t be enough vehicles on the roads.” Hontiveros said.

One way to address a possible transport shortage is for the DOTr to authorize local governments to own and operate modern PUV fleets through a service contracting agreement with transport cooperatives.

“If this is their plan, DOTr can ease the concerns of many PUV drivers and operators, including those who were just forced to join transport cooperatives due to the April 30 deadline, that they would be knee-deep in debt because one modern PUV unit is costly and they can lose much precisely because they were not given routes or assurance that they will earn by the DOTr,” she said.

“The DOTr must take the wheel and ensure that the modernization program doesn’t run over the livelihoods of PUV drivers and operators,” the lawmaker said.

“After all,  it is the government that can initially take on the risk of making the investment in modern fleets because it is more knowledgeable about what lies ahead and seems much less afraid of the risks of the modernization program,” she stressed.