TRANSPORT FEDERATION. The 11-member Federation of Cebu Transport Cooperatives face the press at the Department of Educaiton-Ecotech Center in Sudlon, Cebu City on Friday (Jan. 19, 2024). The federation, through their chairperson Ellen Maghanoy, said there will be enough units of modern jeeps to fill in the traditional jeepneys that have only until Jan. 31 to ply their routes. (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY – The Federation of Cebu Transport Cooperatives on Friday expressed confidence that there will be enough modern jeepneys for commuters once the government fully bans unconsolidated traditional public utility vehicles after the Jan. 31 deadline.
At a press conference, FCTC chair Ellen Maghanoy assured the Cebuanos there will be no shortage of public transport as many of their member operators have enough units to ply different routes.
She said the 81 percent rate of consolidated franchises in Central Visayas is already an assurance that there would be enough units to serve the routes.
Federation officer Roberto Orilla said the remaining 19 percent of unconsolidated routes are “good as dead franchises” that could no longer be traced by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board as their transfer was never recorded or never transpired at all.
The federation wanted the national government to fully implement the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) and should not allow further extension after the end of this month, Maghanoy said.
The federated 11-member cooperatives said there is a pressing need for a comprehensive overhaul of the public transportation system in the country to cater to the evolving needs of commuters and elevate the standards of the industry.
“Our federation firmly believes that the PUVMP represents a significant stride towards the enhancement of public transportation, and we are committed to working in close collaboration with the government to ensure its successful implementation,” they said in a statement read by Maghanoy.
Mabolo Transport Cooperative chairperson Aquilino Huyo-a urged Congress to also listen to their plight who have standing loans with the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines for the purchase of their units.
“There’s no more turning back. Our coops have already accepted the wishes of the government to modernize public transportation. And here we are facing a challenge if the government will still delay the modernization,” Huyo-a said in Cebuano.
He said entities registered with the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Transport Cooperatives have helped lessen the unemployment rate in the mass transport sector.
PUVMP, he said, has also changed their lives as they can give monthly SSS, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth benefits to operators and drivers, unlike before when they had a “hand-to-mouth” living condition as traditional PUJ drivers. (PNA)
