MANILA — The Liga ng mga Transportasyon at Operators ng Pilipinas (LTOP) said transport strikes in Metro Manila are damaging the country’s economy as the Public Transportation Modernization Program (PTMP) faces another year of challenges under the newly reorganized DOTr.
LTOP National President Orlando Marquez said directly affected are commuters, businesses likely to suffer financial losses and consumer confidence adversely affected.
Whether the Manila strikes are legal or Illegal, this could mean business unusual for the riding public, Marquez said.
The country’s economy is at stake nowadays due to the rising political bickerings and this striking season could only harm all the more the country’s investment reputation internationally, Marquez noted.
He agrees that the effect of strikes are difficult to calculate, yet these are contributory to the rising tensions in politics.
LTOP National President Orlando Marquez
“Our GDP growth will be affected and the economic consequences would inevitably lead to higher inflation with the middle and low income sectors seen to suffer the most”, Marquez told the Mindanao Daily.
Marquez reiterated the call of the newly-installed Secretary Department of Transportation (DOTr) Vince Dizon expressing his openness to some drastic changes in the government’s PTMP to address the concerns of transport groups.
Dizon had earlier announced that DOTr
would be open to changes because clearly, there are some issues that need to be resolved.
According to Dizon, some 86 percent of public utility vehicles (PUV) have already applied for consolidation but only 40 percent have been approved.
Dizon said he will discuss the matter with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and transport groups without delay. After these meetings, he said he will present “fast and doable solutions” in two weeks time.
Started in 2017, the country’s PTMP aims to replace jeepneys with modern vehicles,
units that are not deemed roadworthy.
These days, 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.
The consolidation of individual PUV franchises into cooperatives or corporations is the initial stage of the modernization program.
Under the modernization program, unconsolidated units are considered colorum.
Marquez has been consistent in the application of an holistic approach in finding solutions to modernize the country’s transport system:
-Simplified Regulatory Reforms
-Local Government Unit Capacity Building
-Route Rationalization
-Public Utility Jeepney (PUJ) Standard Specification
-Industry Consolidation
-Financing PUJ Modernization
-End of Useful Life Program
-Pilot Implementation
