The ambitious jeepney modernization program has slowed down amid mounting opposition and prevailing policy bottlenecks, but a hearing conducted by Sen. Grace Poe partly cleared the highly heated and muddled issues, as stakeholders with varying interests presented their positions and suggestions that could help put it back on the road and accelerate in the interest of the broader riding public.
Grace under pressure? Transport Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and his team, led by Undersecretary Tim M. Orbos and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chairman Martin B. Delgra III, were barraged with complaints and other verbal barbs, some bordering on being unreasonable, like demands for a 50-percent subsidy on the cost of jeepney replacements.
One transport leader even accused Delgra as incompetent deserving to be replaced, but could not offer alternative solutions to the problems. Delgra kept his cool under pressure and stressed the higher principle of serving the general welfare, or the riding public, and implicitly hinted that a public transport franchise is not a right but a privilege granted by the government.
Many complained there were not enough consultations done in the formulation of the program. As the salvos and criticisms were hurled, Tugade also kept his cool and grace under pressure, or was it pressure under Senator Poe’s request that dialogues be held every two months to iron out remaining problems. “Everything is fluid…as nothing is written in stone, so I’m open to discussions,” he said.
One-size-fits-all formula doesn’t work? The manifestations of the lack of substantive consultations are the remaining policy gaps, bureaucratic hurdles, constricting bottlenecks and the neglect of optimizing resources available that were raised at the hearing.
A transport leader servicing resettlement areas in Pampanga, with only a few trips a day, claims their operators earn “boundary incomes” of only P400 a day. Obviously, the “one-size-fits-all” formula requiring standard amortizations of P850 a day are totally untenable for them.
This one-size-fits-all design is manifested in Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) guidelines, with Assistant Secretary Ernestor V. Perez admitting jeepney designs were limited to single-set “dimensions,” but had no minimum standards on structural strength of materials nor varying sizes depending on specific route characteristics. By market forces, jeepneys evolved into different sizes depending on demand and route conditions (i.e., longer jeepneys for longer distances, shorter jeepneys for narrow roads and short trips.)
Longer financing open, but not tapped. What was also raised was the potential of lengthening the seven-year financing to 10 years through the Credit Surety Fund (CSF) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP), which has virtually unlimited funds with deep pockets and the authority to print money.
Moreover, CSF offers concessional rates and matches 10 times a transport sector’s equity investment. If the Department of Transportation (DOTr) can subsidize 5 percent, jeepney groups can easily raise their counterpart 5 percent. The combined 10 percent can now be matched 10 times by BSP funds.
By lengthening payment periods, amortizations can be reduced to affordable levels. Perhaps, there must be different packages for specific routes like electric vehicles enjoying premium fare for high-end business centers; Euro 4 and LPG engines for other routes, rebuild engines with supplemental technological interventions for others and a package retaining same engines, but replacing their bodies to conform to standards and correcting emissions.
Jeepneys’ dilemma over koops? Before jeepnney groups can swarm the BSP for applications, they must realize the caveat, or warning. They must be marginalized and organized first into cooperatives, a requirement with valid reasons from experience.
For one, government financing to non-koop transport groups suffered low repayment rates of 30 percent, but high 97-percent rates for transport cooperatives. Office of Transportation Cooperatives (OTC) Chairman Emmanuel C. Virtucio argues this is so because “responsibility is shared collectively in cooperatives.” In fact, repayments could have been 100 percent, had it not been because of cancer and mortalities, a problem that could be avoided with built-in mortgage
insurances.
In short, transport groups can only avail themselves of financing if they organize into cooperatives, which will put many in a dilemma, as some oppose the transformation into cooperatives for reasons we can only surmise.
Delgra emphasized that one cannot modernize without industrial consolidation and the choices are either cooperatives, corporations or consortiums. But all benefits lead to cooperatives, which will empower everyone, including drivers. Given the cooperativism thrust, the Cooperative Development Authority and DOTr’s OTC must simplify procedures to relax barriers to entry.
Maintenance, missing key to modernization? Another issue raised, but not fully discussed, is the gap between the two-year warranties of vehicles and the seven-year financing period.
As jeepneys undergo average operating time of 14 hours and high passenger loads, breakdowns are likely, which brings us to the importance of “preventive maintenance” that could keep engines, where friction zones are located in top condition all the way beyond the amortization period, otherwise, amortizations and the overall modernization program will be affected.
Section 21 of the Clean Air Act mandates the DOTr to implement emission standards through inspection and maintenance. It already has the Motor Vehicle Inspection Service, but has no policy or program yet on maintenance.
Maintenance service centers can be set up as part of clean fleet management to address warranty gaps, but this is only possible through consolidation through cooperatives. They will also serve as alternative livelihood to ease the burden of financing. Perhaps, maintenance can be incorporated in the modernization financing equation.
Give to gab for a win-win. Senator Poe opened the hearing stressing “many came here raring to argue your case passionately, but this hearing is not in aid of publicity, but in search for solutions we all need.”
She stressed that the hearing brought “the issue from the streets to the negotiating table,” and closed with the message for every one to give in to the higher interests of the public for a win-win solution, which can only be done by continuous dialogues and meetings.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com.
5 comments
mnaraming nag sasabing ang aga daw mamulitika ni senator grace poe, karmaihan nmana ganyan sinabi ang pag nagtatrabaho ang isang senador or politiko, pero pag wlang ginagawa hiindi nman nag ko comment ang iilan
si tugade na mismo ang nagsabi na hes open with a discussion, kaya may maigi na to ngawa n hearing ni grace poe para naman mas lubos n magkainitindihan ang DOTr at mga jeepney operators
maraming adjustment pwdeng gawin sa modernization kaya dapat magkainitindihan ang DOTr at mga jeepney ops bago maging konkreto ang programang to para sa mga jeepney
kung malinis at solido ang pplano ng modernization pwde na sana simulan kaya lang kulang ang budget para dto at hindi pa solido, kaya tama si sena grace poe na pwde naman simulan ang modernization paunti unti s ibng are ng metro manila or ibng lugar
hindi naman tlga kaya ng pabigla bigla ang modernization ng jeepney lalo nat kulang ang pondo para dto at wla pang solidong plano