A group of jeepney owners and drivers on Saturday asked for an extension to the March 2023 deadline for franchise holders to merge into a single cooperative or corporation under the Public Utility Vehicle or PUV Modernization Plan.
Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines president Boy Rebaño explained in a radio interview that the drivers of traditional jeepneys are worried that their units would be phased out if they fail to consolidate.
“We can’t believe that traditional jeeps would be phased out,” Rebaño said. “When it says phaseout, they (jeepneys) will totally disappear from the road, that’s all. We don’t hear this from the government,” Rebaño added.
The transport leader said that FEJODAP’s membership includes 70,000 to 80,000 conventional jeepneys around the country. The fleet of conventional jeepneys owned by the group numbers 40,000 alone in Metro Manila.
Hence, Rebaño said the group is asking to “extend for the meantime” the upcoming 31 March deadline since there is a possibility that individual operators might have misplaced their documents.
Rebaño explained that the first step in the modernization program is “merging the existing documents into one.”
“Consolidation is being implemented now. Drivers and operators who travel on a certain route need to gather and build an entity, either corporation or cooperative,” he said.
If consolidation is not done, the possibility of a driver or operator not being granted a franchise or renewal of franchise may happen, Rebaño warned.
Rebaño, however, said the group asked the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for an extension.
“It looks like we will be granted as these traditional jeepney operators still have time to decide,” Rebaño mentioned. “What was mentioned yesterday (is that there is) at least one year to be extended,” he said.