ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Nabudol?': Transport groups that supported PUV modernization seek clear policy from PBBM

'Nabudol?': Transport groups that supported PUV modernization seek clear policy from PBBM

Published Oct 2, 2025 12:04 pm
The heads of major transport groups show the letter they sent to President Marcos that discusses their disappointment and impatience over slow progress of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) during a press conference in Quezon City on October 2, 2025.
The heads of major transport groups show the letter they sent to President Marcos that discusses their disappointment and impatience over slow progress of the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) during a press conference in Quezon City on October 2, 2025.
Seven major transport groups urged President Marcos to set a clear policy direction in implementing the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) amid concerns on delays and other issues concerning its sustainability.
In a letter to the President, the transport groups dubbed as Magnificent 7 said the PTMP appears to be going nowhere due to unclear policies by some of the people in charge of its implementation.
“There have been talks about PTMP but there are serious problems with it. Its implementation is slow, there’s no timeline, no feedback system and there has been no dialogues with stakeholders now,” the groups stated in the letter.
The letter was signed by Pasang Masda national president Roberto “Obet” Martin, LTOP National President Orlando Marquez, ALTODAP National President Melencio “Boy” Vargas, Stop-and-Go National President Zaldy Ping-ay, FETODAP president Deo Sotto, BUsina National President Marilyn Ramos, and ACTO National President Liberty de Luna.
The groups said that years have passed since the PTMP was implemented, yet, the program appeared to have been stuck in the route survey phase.
The first stage of the PTMP is consolidation into a cooperative or corporation to expedite the distribution of franchise.
The last deadline extension approved by Marcos for consolidation was in April last year. The end of the consolidation phase will pave the way to route rationalization but more than a year now, transport groups said it is still in the survey stage.
“We are already tired of supporting this and waiting for results, how will we achieve the objective of this program to improve our lives,” the groups said.
The groups then urged the President to conduct a massive revamp of Regional Directors of all land transportation-related agencies and appoint what they described as a reliable person with integrity and an intense land transportation background to head the PTMP.
The Magnificent 7 supported the PTMP, previously called the PUV (Public Utility Vehicle) Modernizzation, by taking the lead in consolidating into corporation and cooperative.
Two other transport groups, Piston and Manibela, however, opposed the PTMP since day one of its implementation and branded the programas anti-poor and anti-transport.
The two groups also cited anomalies in franchise distribution and discrepancies in the creation of corporations and cooperatives.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.