TRANSPORT STRIKE AGAINST PTMP SET ON SEPTEMBER 23-24

Transport groups said that a transport strike from September 23 to 24 will be hold to protest the government’s PTMP (Photo courtesy of GMA Integrated News)

Transport groups PISTON and MANIBELA said that it would hold another strike from September 23 to 24 to oppose the government’s Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP). 

The following demands of the transport sector were aim to address on the said protest action:

• Junking of the PTMP
• Cancellation of forced franchise consolidation
• Renewal of franchises and registrations for all public utility vehicle (PUV) operators, including those who choose not to consolidate
• Zero budget for PUV phaseout programs, with funding redirected towards the rehabilitation of traditional jeepneys and subsidies for local industries
• Allowing those who entered franchise consolidation to withdraw

PISTON national president Mody Floranda said “Several times, the failure of the PTMP has been exposed in Congress, the Senate has also supported our position in scrapping the PTMP, but Marcos Jr. and his henchmen in the DOTr and LTFRB are still stubborn.”

The PTMP or previously Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) was launched in 2017 to replace jeepneys with vehicles that have at least a Euro 4-compliant engine to lessen pollution but there have been multiple delays in its implementation due to protests and COVID-19.

Drivers and operators opposed to the plan argue that buying a new vehicle will bury them in debt and they will not be able to earn enough money to repay their loans and make a living. Which 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.

Due to supposedly insufficient information drive on the PTMP and the financial burden on drivers and operators to procure modern jeepneys, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in August rejected the call of 22 senators to suspend the program. "I disagree with them because sinasabi nila minadali. This has been postponed seven times, the modernization has been postponed for seven times."

Source: GMA Integrated News 

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