Unconsolidated PUV franchises to be revoked 'a week or two' after April 30 deadline —DOTr

This is from news selected image.

Unconsolidated operators and drivers will be notified that their franchises are revoked “a week or two” after the April 30 consolidation deadline, a Department of Transportation (DOTr) official said Tuesday.

“Bibigyan naman ng due process ng LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board),” DOTr Undersecretary Ferdinand Ortega told Unang Balita in an interview when asked if unconsolidated public utility vehicles (PUVs) will be apprehended starting Wednesday, the day after the deadline.

“Bibigyan pa ‘yan ng show cause, sasagot pa sila,” he added.

“So it will take a few days, maybe a week or two para sila ay finally masasabihan o mabibigyan ng information na sila ay wala nang prangkisa at sila ay hindi na puwede pumasada.”

(The LTFRB will give them due process. It will give them show cause order and they will have to respond. So it will take a few days, maybe a week or two, for them to finally be told or given information that they no longer have a franchise and they can no longer operate.)

Ortega urged unconsolidated operators and drivers not to persist in operating despite their lack of franchise.

Ortega earlier said that in Metro Manila, around 59% of operators and drivers have already consolidated into cooperatives in compliance with the government’s PUV Modernization Program (PUVMP).

According to Ortega, the DOTr remains firm that the consolidation of PUVs will close on Tuesday and that there will be no more extension.

Started in 2017, the PUVMP aims to replace jeepneys with vehicles that have at least a Euro 4-compliant engine to lessen pollution. It also aims to replace units that are not deemed roadworthy by the Land Transportation Office’s standards.

A modern jeepney unit costs over P2 million, an amount that even state-run banks LandBank and Development Bank of the Philippines said was too expensive for PUV drivers and operators.

On Monday, transport groups went on a three-day strike, filed a supplemental petition and again asked the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order against the PUVMP.

On the second day of the transport strike on Tuesday, the protesting drivers once again gathered at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila. They intend to stage their protest until evening. —KBK, GMA Integrated News

This article Unconsolidated PUV franchises to be revoked ‘a week or two’ after April 30 deadline —DOTr was originally published in GMA News Online.