The Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON), one of two groups spearheading the transport strike that started Monday, Sept. 23, pleaded the Supreme Court (SC) anew to stop the implementation of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).
In a motion, PISTON national president Mody Floranda told the SC to resolve the petition or at least issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) “to prevent grave and irreparable injury on the part of the petitioners, the other operators and drivers, the commuters, and all their families and the public in general.”
The PTMP mandates that all operators of passenger vehicles, particularly jeepneys, should consolidate themselves into cooperatives of corporations for them to legally ply their routes.
In its motion, PISTON cited the several extensions made by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in the deadline for the implementation PTMP.
Thus, it said, the extensions only prove that the PTMP is “ill-conceived” and “gravely prejudicial to the interest of the transport sector and the public at large.”
“While respondents attested in their submissions before this Honorable Court to the purportedly high and successful consolidation rate, the extensions they granted render doubtful and even belie such claims,” it said.
“As it appears, respondents themselves recognize the danger that millions of commuters would be left without public transport adversely affecting their livelihoods and wreaking havoc on the economy,” it added.
PISTON’s petition and other transport groups filed their cases in December last year.
While the SC has ordered the respondents in the petitions to file their comments, the High Court has not resolved the issue of TRO pleaded in the petitions.
President Marcos had earlier opposed the delay on the implementation of the PTMP, saying sufficient time was already given to transport operators to consolidate, and that delaying the program is unfair to more than 80 percent of transport operators who already decided to join the modernization program.